Blinded By Revenge
by darkpower
Summary: It's two months after the Sailors defeated the Black Moon, and Serena is faced with a new enemy: Boredom. The one thing she believed she would never want again a reason to be Sailor Moon again is the one thing that she misses. However, one should be
1. Get Rubeus

BLINDED BY REVENGE  
CHAPTER 1  
Get Rubeus

Written by Darkpower  
Rating: 14 (Dialogue, Violence, Language)

As many of you are aware, I have started Deadworld, but there are ten missing years in my "half AU" Sailor Moon Universe between Sailor Moon R and that story. Starting with this story, I will try to fill that void. This will be the start of how things happen and how we will eventually get into Deadworld. This will be a long fleshing out, though, as there are several elements that I want people to know about.

By the way, "half-AU" means that while this is considered alternate universe, it's more of an alternate path that the series could've taken when they hit the fork in the road known as the end of Sailor Moon R. Instead of going right (which would be the Sailor Moon S road), this is the LEFT path (where this story begins). Everything that happened during the first two SM seasons has also transpired in this half-AU. It's just what happened before and after those that's different. Hope that clears it up a bit.

Finally, thanks to "youroctober" for the betaing of this chapter as well as the rest of this fanfiction. The help is very much appreciated, and I hope that the fanfiction is much more enjoyable as a result of such hard work.

* * *

The man couldn't believe it. Lady Emerald had told him that the Dark Phantom couldn't stand failures, and left him for dead as she disappeared. Rubeus had no way out of the UFO he had thought he captured the Sailors in. The same UFO that had now caught fire because Rubeus had started the self-destruct sequence. He was lost, and needed to find his way fast because he was about to die in space, and he knew the famed saying about screaming in space (no one can hear you scream). Now he would be at negative decibels if he tried because no one would want to hear him if he were to be able to, though at this point he didn't care about anyone but himself anymore.

Rubeus, however, was about to find some guidance. He should've known that UFO would not have a self-destruct sequence without a normal means of escape. Even with all the magical powers he and the others that used that huge, bulky spacecraft, if anyone else, possessed, the UFO ('_Why am I still calling it that?_' Rubeus thought) was still given an escape pod just in case the worst-case scenario came true. This type of thing called for exactly what Rubeus' eyes found. That small, one-man pod that sat to the left of where Rubeus was and where he had last seen Emerald. She would get hers soon, that he knew, one way or another. However, he wanted to live, and to get his revenge.

_'Damn it, why am I still thinking about this?_', he thought. With no other thoughts entering his mind than to "get his ass out of there now", Rubeus made leaps and bounds to get past the burning embers, and before he knew it, he was there. He fought the latch and was able to get that thing open within moments, and not a second too soon, as he saw the ship ('_Yeah_,' he thought, '_it's a ship, not a UFO!_') begin to rip apart. He would be the next thing coming apart if he didn't act, and so act he did. He got into the pod, closed the latch, and launched the pod into the space, seeing his precious ship bite the dust. Now that he was free (albeit with the fact that he was cutting it too close), Rubeus could finally exhale and start thinking about what to do from here. Though he now had some more time, he couldn't just sit there forever, as that wouldn't be too good for his health, either.

"Emerald, you annoying _bitch_!" Rubeus said to himself as he pounded his fist onto the armrest of the pod. "I know you'll soon see how loyal the Dark Phantom is, and who he really represents. Yeah, they all think I'm dead right now. I made sure no one would see me get out of there alive. Good thing about sci-fi, eh? We learn how to cloak these beasts sooner or later. You'll never have me back, Phantom."

Rubeus then thought about a few other things, as well. "Wonder how I'll get back to my time. Ah, who cares about the future? This is where it's at now. I'm a product of the past, someone who can shape what will happen in my original time. Which means," Rubeus snickered, "taking care of the Sailors before Reenie is even born. I'll be the hero of my time by taking care of the Sailors in this time. Got a score to settle with them, anyway. Better than nothing, though I may want to hide out for a little while. Don't want anyone to know just yet that I'm still alive and kicking."

With that, Rubeus pressed a few buttons and off to Earth he went.

**-xXXXXx-**

It had been a few months since the Sailors had defeated the Black Moon in the future (the same amount of time since Rubeus had escaped his destroyed ship). Reenie was reunited with her mother and father, as planned, even though it wasn't easy for the Soldiers to do so, having to get through the Black Moon family and all. Now without any real need to use their Sailor powers, the girls seemed relieved to be able to get back to being normal kids. Only thing was, now that they were friends and had a few talking animals at their sides, normal life seemed to become abnormal before long.

This was especially true for Serena Sommers, who lay in her bed as the sun was beginning to come up. This was more than unusual for her. She really needed the sleep after all she had been though during the past year; that she knew. However, with the covers over her body, her eyes were wide open. Not only did she go to sleep early, but she woke up early. She wasn't tired at all, and she was wondering how she was doing this. This type of thing, although new to her, was beginning to be commonplace. She wrestled with the reasons as to why she was such an early riser lately, though the more she stared at the alarm clock watching the time tick by, she was beginning to see a reason why she was only laying there instead of sleeping. It was complete boredom. She was living her teenage life (which was starting to near its end as graduation was looming in the distance), which was what she wanted to begin with. However, in a matter of speaking, the more she didn't have to be a Sailor, the more she was missing it. Maybe it was the excitement that came with taking out the Black Moon or the Dark Kingdom or the Cardigans that she missed, or maybe it was being around the Sailor friends that she had made along the way. Either way, she never thought that she would even be looking forward to school. She just anticipated the time in which she could find an excuse to do something, anything, other than the same old same old.

'_Six fifty-eight_,' Serena thought. Two more minutes during which she could just think about what was going on in her life right now, if anything. No, make that fifty-nine; one more minute. The clock had only advanced by one minute. Maybe this clock was slow. That alarm needed to sound so no one besides her would suspect that she was abducted by aliens and that a doppelganger was put in her place. She took that minute to look to Luna, which slept at her feet. In a way, Luna was counting on Serena's sudden screams to wake her up. Luna was expecting it today, but even she wasn't aware of Serena's sudden change in attitude about school. Serena could only think of how bored out of her mind Luna was in right now.

Seven. The clock changed again. The alarm went off. No, scratch that, it was the radio now; she had decided to buy a new alarm clock that had a radio in it. Instead of annoying bells, she could be woken up to some goof-ball DJ's on the radio trying to get her to laugh. Depended on the station. Some J-Pop station was playing at the moment, even though she was kind of getting into some harder stuff lately. Even some American music, which was probably because a station dedicated to American music had just launched in the Tokyo market. Played some really good things, though more processed than the J-Pop she was used to hearing. It did play some good stuff that was unique, though, even when they really mixed the genres from one song to the next on there. She got to know some of the songs they were playing. As she jumped out of bed (she didn't wake Luna in doing so), she first tuned to that very American music station and then went to the mirror to get her hair prepped up. Some rock song was playing, and as she was getting her odangos in place, she was more concerned with trying to remember what song was playing. No, never mind, she just recognized it: Metallica's Enter Sandman. That singer's voice, James Hetfield, which she had remembered from the DJ saying it before playing it a few other times, was recognizable anywhere. They played this one a lot lately, and she would've went straight for the import section of the record store to snag the album this was on, if only she could make it past without her parents wondering why there was a picture of a snake on the completely black cover of the CD she had.

'_Oh well,_' she thought, though she had no one else to blame but Lita for getting her into some of this type of music. Lita was getting to become a headbanger through and through, and the musical influence she was having on Serena was staggering.

Serena's odangos were in place, she was now dressed, and all she needed to do was to get her shoes on, her bag gathered, and head out the door. The starting bell had yet to ring; it was still about an hour before she had to enter class. She had time to eat breakfast, but even that proved to be a bit of a chore. She usually skipped it anyway-had to because she was constantly late. She had the choice this time, and had for the past few weeks now. But, as she turned off the radio (giving a real big sorry to Stevie Nicks in the process), she only paced downstairs, slipped on her shoes, gathered her bag, and out the door she went.

However, right after she went out the door, Sammy, her younger brother, walked to the edge of the top step, rubbing his eyes. "Serena, going to school early? I need more sleep. I never saw that happen before." Sammy could only rub his eyes some more, knowing that he couldn't get anymore sleep, as he needed to go to school himself. He only shook his head and went about getting himself ready.

**-xXXXXx-**

Yes, it was an eventful day at school. Miss Haruna didn't even question who this new girl was and what she had done to Serena this time. Serena's grades were steadily improving, which was a good thing and no one concerned about her was complaining. That being said, however, what they were worried about was why she was behaving strangely from a personality standpoint. She was very distant in her classes. She wasn't herself, for sure.

Evidence of this suddenly ran right at Serena while she was walking home from school: Luna, who was panting upon seeing Serena.

"Serena," Luna said, exhausted, "how in the world did you get out of bed without waking me? You're a hard person to find anymore!"

"Sorry, Luna," Serena answered, her tone showing contempt.

"Serena, what's going on? I sense a tone."

Serena let out a deep sigh. "Nothing, Luna! Really, nothing!"

"Ahh, no you don't, Serena. Not to me, not this time. Come, walk with me, talk with me."

Serena sighed once more, this time in reluctant acceptance.

**-xXXXXx-**

"I don't know Luna," Serena answered as she was walking with her animal friend. "I've just been bored lately."

"You're free to do whatever you want to do, Serena. You always wanted a normal life, did you? It's upon you and now you don't want it?"

"Well, I didn't say that. It's just that-well, it just seems really strange without being around the Sailor business. Just the feeling of helping someone who needs you, y'know. Yeah, I wanted to be a normal teen and all, but the more I'm living it after I've been a Sailor for so long, the harder it is. I'm just so used to the fighting."

Luna let out a quick sigh. "I know what you mean, I think. It's too quiet anymore. You think you want one thing, when you're actually taking the other thing for granted."

"Exactly. I was so tired of being Sailor Moon, but now I can't wait to become her again! Though I know to be careful what I wish for."

"Maybe you just miss them."

"You mean the other Sailors."

"Yes. I told them to come to the temple, a little reunion. Like I said, maybe it's not necessarily the fighting you miss, but the people you were with when you were fighting. I've even asked Darien to come, too."

"Miss him, most of all. You're right, Luna. I do miss my girls."

"Come, then, Serena. To Hikawa Shrine. Sort of like old times."

Without another word, Serena and Luna headed for the Shrine on the outskirts of Downtown Juuban.

However, unbeknown to either of them, someone was listening to every word of it: Rubeus, who was on the rooftop of a small apartment building, keeping himself hidden from view.

"That girl. She was talking to that cat," Rubeus whispered to himself. "She was talking about becoming Sailor Moon. A shrine? Meeting with others? Like old times? Could it be that she's...? Nah. I know what they say about things that sounds too good to be true. Better be sure I wasn't just hearing things." He then disappeared.

**-xXXXXx-**

The entire gang was at the Shrine, and Serena was overjoyed to see them again. Luna was correct: Serena did miss them immensely. She smiled at each of them, but still felt a bit disconnected.

"Hey, girl," Raye said a few moments afterwards. "Heard you haven't been yourself lately."

"I heard you were getting B pluses instead of C minuses," Amy added. "There's something not right with that picture."

"No, nothing wrong, Amy," Serena responded. "It's just me not being the same person anymore. I just don't feel like the person I was, who can just let loose and be myself."

"I've been feeling the same thing," Mina answered, walking over to Serena. "It's like, something's been missing since we defeated the Black Moon. Nothing new has happened. Some boring destiny, isn't it?"

"Ah, c'mon, Mina," Lita barked. "You and Serena are both going to sit here, after everything that you've said about wanting to be a normal teenager, and say that you miss it now? Yeah, right!"

"It can be possible to face withdrawal from things that you didn't think you were addicted to," Artemis added. "It is possible that Serena only thought she hated the job, but now that it's quieted down, that part of her life isn't there anymore, and the excitement went with it. My guess is that Miss Serena Sommers here misses being Sailor Moon because of everything that went along with the responsibility."

"Not sure if I would ever miss it," Raye added. "I guess it's different for everyone."

"We do have to be on our toes, though, in case there ends up being someone new trying to come after us," Amy responded. "Remember who we're trying to protect."

Serena was still paying attention, but she was also looking to see where her on-again, off-again boyfriend was. "Hey, where is he?"

"You mean me?" asked a familiar male voice from behind Serena. She turned around to see Darien's smiling face, though it startled her a bit as she had not been expecting him to be that close.

"Hey, don't _do_ that!" Serena yelled. "Scaring the living crap outta me! You know that's my job and my job only!"

"Well, it seems I perked you up!" her boyfriend chuckled. "Seems it was your friends that you missed."

"Yeah, it was. Really needed to be around people that knew me, and that I could talk to about it."

"As long as you are the future Queen of Earth, it will never be boring, and we'll never be done protecting this place."

"I guess you're right."

"Hey," Lita interrupted, "you guys coming inside or not? I made a celebration feast for all of us. It's my biggest meal I've ever made, did it once I heard about Serena being a little down, thought we could treat ourselves."

"Yeah, nothing says excitement like digging into something good like Lita's cooking," Serena answered. "Something else I missed."

"Yeah, what the hell? An extra fifty pounds, here we come," Mina proclaimed. A "Right!", in unison, was heard amongst the rest of the group, and off into the Shrine they all went.

However, once more, no one saw that Rubeus was eavesdropping on everything, and this time, his suspicions proved to be correct.

"Well now, Serena," Rubeus whispered. "You indeed are Sailor Moon, and this time, I know how to find you, at any time. Serena Sommers is your name? Perfect! That's all I need to know."

Rubeus then went to a nearby pay phone booth and searched through the attached phone book. His eyes studied the pages, looking for the name of "Sommers". A hundred pages into the book, he found what he was looking for, ripped out a page, and disappeared before anyone could find him.

**-xXXXXx-**

"Damn, Lita, you made all of this yourself, _that_ fast, and it was _that_ good?" Serena asked as she was chewing the last bits of her meal. "Talk about overexertion."

"It was nothing," Lita answered. "I couldn't stand seeing one of my best friends be so down in the dumps, and I knew the best way to cheer you up."

"She probably won't be able to stand after all she ate," Amy added.

"Neither will you, oh wise one," Serena scoffed back.

"Hey, I only gained twenty. You probably gained that fifty pounds Mina predicted."

"Thirty here," Raye proclaimed. "Yeah, Lita! You got a hell of a lot to live up to after this. If you can whip this stuff up that fast, I can't imagine what you could do when you have more time on your hands."

"Thanks," Lita said, smiling. "That really means a lot to me. I'm actually thinking about trying to become a chef when I graduate."

"Yeah, I haven't figured out where I'm going from high school yet," Serena answered.

"Maybe that's another reason why you've gotten a bit more serious lately," Mina said. "You're thinking about life beyond being a teenager."

"Yeah, that's probably..." Serena stopped as she looked at the time. "Ah, shit! I gotta get home, it's getting late and my parents have yet to even see me. They don't know I've been getting up earlier. They just think my new alarm clock is working for me better. I'm sorry, guys."

"Nah, no problem, Serena. I'm glad we were able to help you out," Raye answered. "Remember, whenever you need to talk to someone, you know who to call."

"Yeah, thanks Raye; And all of you, thank you, too." Serena then slipped on her shoes and headed out the door, seemingly in a hurry.

"Still don't think she really misses being a Sailor," Lita said a few moments later. "Got a feeling that there's something else going on."

"Yeah, I sensed it," Raye added. "Like she's unknowingly getting some sort of premonition about something and she doesn't know what it is, but it's bothering her enough to make her depressed."

"Something bad?"

"I don't know. The way you said it, and the way I sensed it, is worrying me now."

"She's been like this for a few weeks," Luna added. "Serena doing better in school I'll take, but this stick in the mud stuff I'd rather do without. Talk about missing someone...it's the Serena that was always a chore to try to keep in check that I miss."

"I just hope I'm wrong," Raye responded.

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena was heading home, school bag in hand, with the day growing old and the sun setting, the night sky nearly taking over completely. She was not in any rush, but she was trying to walk quickly to get back home before it got any later. She was only a few blocks away now, and she ran across the street and began to walk the final leg. However, as Serena looked upwards to see the second floor of her house, she stopped on a dime. One of the windows was a little cracked. It wasn't like that when she left earlier today, she knew that, and the light was on, so someone would've seen it by now.

It was when Serena got to the archway that she saw a few more cracked windows, this time more than the other. "What the hell?"

She went through the archway to find that her house had a broken lock on it, and the door was nearly blown off of its hinges. Lights were on, and as she entered the house, she became horrified. Chairs were tipped over, and dishes and glasses were broken. It wouldn't have even been that bad had she not seen the evidence that made her horrified: blood. On the walls, on the chairs, and on the banister. It was smeared all over the place, and the more Serena saw it, the more her widened eyes watered and the more her breaths shortened.

"M-Mom? D-Dad? Sammy?" She got no answer. "_Oh, my God_!" She dropped her bag on the floor and began to navigate the now torn-apart house, broken glass crumbling beneath her feet.

"MOM! DAD! Please, someone answer! SAMMY! ANYONE!" Still with no answer, she rushed upstairs, and it was then that she heard some crying. It was from her mother, coming from the master bedroom. As she entered, her mother, Ikuko Sommers, was on the bed crying. Her father, Kenji, was on his back, trying to stop some bleeding from a rather large wound.

"DAD!" Serena screamed, rushing to her father's aid.

"Why, Serena? Why did he do this?" Ikuko asked.

"_Who_?" Serena screamed louder. "Mother, tell me! Please!"

"Um," her mother stammered with the details, trying to keep her composure long enough to tell her.

"Mother? You must know!"

"Uh, tall guy...short and spiky red hair, has this purple vest on him. That's all I really could see"

'_Oh, my God! Rubeus? But he was..._'

"He shot your father near his heart, but he was trying to get me out of the way," her mother continued while shaking like a leaf. "That madman was beginning to fire something at me when he just vanished! I didn't know what to do, I don't have the training you have! I just told him to stay down to try to stop the bleeding! It was only a half-hour ago! I was going to call the police, but I was scared that he was still here, and you know how useless they've been lately!"

Serena ripped off a piece of her school uniform's skirt and handed it to Ikuko, seemingly ignoring her critique of the police, even though she disagreed with her, as she usually did. "Here, get this onto the wound. Keep pressure on it; Looks like you got lucky there, dad!" She then looked around the room and into the hallway. "Where's Sammy?"

"S-Sammy?" her mother asked.

Serena became angrier as she held her head in disbelief. "Mom, _please_ tell me you didn't just _leave_ him!"

"You know how he's been lately! He's been going outside with his friends, I sometimes don't even hear him leave or come back! I didn't know if he was here or not! He could've been in his room when it happened! He came to us and shot us with some beam thing, and I was tending to..._Serena, wait_!" Ikuko made sure Kenji was alright before running after Serena.

Serena rushed to Sammy's room, also finding with the door's handle broken. It was when she went inside that she found Sammy with a wound of his own, only unconscious on the floor.

"Sammy!" Serena screamed before running to the comatose body, skidding on both knees to get to where she could tend to her younger brother. She checked for a pulse, but also found that she couldn't hear any breathing, and if there was a pulse, she didn't feel anything.

"Oh, my God!" Ikuko cried once she found Serena with Sammy. "Sammy, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"He's not breathing! God, Sammy, wake up for me!" Serena felt tears streaming down her face as she kept searching for something, anything, to tell her that he was still alive. Finally, she was able to find the faintest pulse. It was just enough to tell her that he was still alive, but he wouldn't be for long. Heightening that danger was the loss of blood from a huge wound that she found on his chest, and then another on his left leg.

"MOM, CALL FOR AN AMBULANCE! NOW!"

"Serena!"

"DO IT!"

Unlike any other time when Serena would yell like that at her mother or "backtalk" her, Ikuko knew this was a life or death situation, and that her daughter had first aid training and would know if someone needed immediate medical attention. She therefore knew that Serena had every right to scold her for not acting right now.

As Serena's mother rushed to the phone to call for the hospital, Serena once more tore off some pieces of her blouse to keep the wounds from doing any more damage to Sammy. It was all she had, and she didn't want to leave her brother. She also frantically undid the red ribbon on the front of her shirt and wrapped it around Sammy's leg to secure the makeshift bandage even further. She then prayed for two things: to let Sammy live though this, and for her first aid training to not fail her. "C'mon, Sammy, stay with me, please. You're not going to die, not if I have anything to say about it, you hear me? Don't die on me!" She then thought to herself, '_Mother, why didn't you even check on him? Did you even know that I wasn't here?_'

A few seconds after finishing her prayer, Ikuko came back into the room, in a panic. "Is he going to...?"

"I hope not! God, I hope not!"

"They'll be here soon, Serena. They said they will contact the police, too, though I doubt they'll even rope off this place! I'm sorry, Serena, I should've...God, I feel so damn stupid! I knew you weren't here, thank God, your bag wasn't here and I know you take it every day! I noticed that earlier. I heard Sammy leave earlier, too, but I didn't hear him come back in, I was trying to cook dinner and he must've sneaked back in! God, I'm such a horrible mother!"

Serena could only grit her teeth, not caring at all about the details at this point and only caring about avenging her family. She had never felt such sadness and anger infused within her before. Though the description her mother had given on who had done such a thing proved to be a bit unbelievable.

"Mom, you're sure you're describing this guy right, aren't you?"

"Positive. He said something about knowing who Sailor Moon is, and that he wanted her to face him or something! He thought we knew where she would be, he thought...God, Serena, I think he was after you, he thinks _you're_ Sailor Moon!"

"Then he should've came after _me_, not you guys!"

"I told him we know nothing about that, and he didn't believe us! Said he knew how to get her out of hiding, and that's when he began all of this. I'm not even sure why he let me off the hook."

Serena couldn't answer as she was too concerned with Sammy right now. Thankfully, a few moments later, the two heard sirens outside, and a team of paramedics flooded the room just a few seconds later.

**-xXXXXx-**

"Give us some room, ma'am!" an emergency room doctor commanded as the team of paramedics and fellow doctors rushed Sammy, who was on a stretcher and in a pitiful state, into one of the cubicles in which they could begin administering the medical care. Serena could only feel a sea of tears rolling down her cheeks. She knew who had done this, and why he had! She couldn't say a word to her parents, though, about her being Sailor Moon. Not yet, anyway. This incident was beginning to spark some thought as to whether or not to tell them the truth. That could wait, though, as Serena's main concern was that Sammy survived this. As she looked on the as best as she could, only seeing her small brother hooked up to many machines, knowing that her brother didn't belong there, she could only pray once more.

"Doctor Mesta told me that your dad's going to be alright," Ikuko said as she came to embrace her daughter. "They think they can stitch him up easily, they said."

"What about Sammy, though? I'm glad dad will be alright, but Sammy...oh God, mom, why did he think I was...?"

"Are you?"

"I...I really..."

"Never mind. It's not appropriate of me to ask that. Don't know why I did when our son could die." She then broke off the embrace and leaned against a wall, only to punch it in frustration a few moments later. "Damn it! Serena, I feel horrible! I should've at least made sure Sammy didn't return! I'm such a failure, Serena! Sammy must hate me now! He's on those damn things because of me, I couldn't protect him! I'm sorry, Serena, it's all my fault!

While she heard her mother's words and wanted to respond to them, Serena had so many other thoughts in her mind all at once, and it was beginning to eat at her psyche. "Excuse me, mom. I need some air." Serena then quickly headed outside the hospital walls. Ikuko didn't pursue her, even thought she believed she should have. She knew Serena needed some time to herself, especially with knowing the person who tried to kill her family was looking for her.

**-xXXXXx-**

"He's alive! That son of a bitch Rubeus is alive!" Serena yelled as she used her Sailor communicator to call her friends. There was another reason why she needed to get outside: To inform the others about the new danger, and what had happened.

"Hold on," Lita responded. "He's alive? Didn't that strange thing he was on...?"

"I don't know how, and I don't care! All I know is that he knows I'm Sailor Moon, and he went after my family! My dad needs stitches now because of him! What he did to Sammy...oh God!"

"Get a hold of yourself, Serena," Raye answered. "We'll just get over there as soon as we can."

"No, don't worry. He wants me, and that's what he'll be getting. Tell Darien to get to the hospital. I don't want to risk anything else happening there, him being there will hopefully keep Rubeus from trying again."

"But Serena, you don't know...!"

"_Moon, crystal, power_! _Make up!_"

She now had a reason to transform. This is what she desired, though it was far from how she wanted it to go. This was the type of incident that would give her nightmares some nights. She was with one thought, however, and that was to find Rubeus, and to end this. The feeling of the many ribbons surrounding her making up her Sailor suit, gloves, and knee high red boots were something in which she missed dearly. As the golden sparkles that made her tiara on her forehead completed the transformation, Sailor Moon could only think of one thing: to completely eradicate Rubeus and make him feel what he put her family through. She hoped that her friends told Darien to protect her family at the hospital (and that he obliged), and that Rubeus would be deterred from harming them anymore than he already did.

She rushed to Juuban Park, a few blocks south of the hospital building. No one was there as the park was closed, and Serena got to an open field of grass in the middle of the park and just stood there.

"RUBEUS!" Sailor Moon began screaming. "_You're_ the one that wanted me to come out, and now you got my attention, you _coward_!"

"You shouldn't be so willing to face me just yet, Sailor Moon!"

Serena looked right in front of her after whipping her head back and forth, trying to find him, when she saw him appear, floating with his arms crossed just a few inches off the ground.

"Yeah, look at you!" Rubeus yelled out at her. "You wanted to come after me, yet you don't do it? What a pity!"

"You piece of _shit_! If you _ever_ even _touch_ my family again, if Sammy dies because of you, so help me, I'll..!"

"What? _Kill me_? You couldn't before; Emerald thought she had when she left me to die in that ship! Luckily for me, I still had that escape pod to see my way here! You're not easy to find, though!"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"To say that this won't be the last time you see me! Hell, you didn't even know that I saw you talk to that damn feline about your boredom, did you, Serena Sommers?"

Serena didn't show any shock. She really didn't care at this point how he found out. "Don't worry, pal! That just means I'll be ready now more than ever for you!"

"_Ha_! You weren't when I hurt your family, and to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing them all die! Hell," he continued, snickering though his rhetoric, "I don't care how much you try to stop me! It won't be the last, Serena! Hope your brother has a safe ride to Hell!"

Sailor Moon had enough, and ran to attack him, only to find that he was gone with a maniacal laugh. She looked all around, but there was no one there to go after. "Yeah, just hope I don't send you there first, pal!" she growled. She then quickly transformed back into her original alias, and returned to the hospital.

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena ran back like a sprinter, only to find that her friends were also there expecting her to come back.

"Serena, what happened?" Luna asked.

"Rubeus knows who we are," Serena answered. "He said there are going to be more attacks. He wants us dead, wants me to suffer."

"Going to have to be on guard, then," Raye replied.

"What happened to Sammy?" Amy questioned.

"He was in the emergency room last I knew. I couldn't stand there watching it. My mother was asking me if I was Sailor Moon. Rubeus attacked them demanding that they presented me to him, telling them that I was Sailor Moon. They didn't believe it."

"Did you...?" Artemis began to ask.

"Not yet, but my mother might be suspicious now, and I don't know how long I can or should keep this a secret from them. If this is what Rubeus is going to try to do..."

"No!" Artemis harked. "Don't _ever_ tell _anyone_ who you are, not even...!"

"She may have a point, though," Mina interrupted. "If Rubeus wants to be a coward, then it might be helpful to at least let them know who to call for if he tries this again."

"Rubeus might reveal it to the world, anyway," Lita added. "He can do whatever he wants with that kind of information."

"No," Serena answered, "that would be too risky for him. No one would believe him."

"Still, you shouldn't tell them, Serena," Artemis continued, although a bit calmer. "Being Sailor Moon is a huge responsibility, and if you are going to..."

"I'd rather people know who I am than to have my family go through this again, Artemis! If telling my mother I'm Sailor Moon gives them something against the next attack..."

"Hey, Serena!" The girls heard Ikuko yell out from the hospital doors. "It's about Sammy. I told him to wait until I get you!"

Serena cut through the others and into the hospital, and they all came in right behind her.

**-xXXXXx-**

"Okay, good news," said the tall Doctor Mesta, "he's still alive."

"Oh, thank God," Serena exhaled. The other girls only listened and prayed that everything that the doctor would say was good news.

"Bad news, though," the baritone Doctor continued, "is that he's going to have to be put into our intensive care unit for a few weeks. We want to make sure he's alright, since whatever shot him got him good. The wound was pretty deep. I don't know if the kid will be the same once he recovers. I think he will be, but I've seen kids with smaller gunshot wounds be paralyzed or worse."

"We'll pray for him," Ikuko responded.

"You should. Actually, I think you might want to thank your daughter here. If we got to him any later, he probably would've died. Her quick thinking to use what she did to stop the bleeding bought us some much-needed time, as well. She's a hero, miss. Whatever she was doing to learn that stuff, make sure she keeps learning it. Not enough of people like her are willing to do what they can to save lives. I think you guys deserve some much needed sleep. Go home and come back here tomorrow morning. We'll be working on him throughout the night, and I can hopefully have some more info to give for you then. That is, unless you would like to stay here, being that you're his family."

"Serena, you want to stay with your friends until this all is resolved?" Ikuko asked.

Serena was puzzled about her even asking that. "Wait, you're saying that you don't want me to stay here with you?"

"Serena, I know you want to protect your brother and all, but seeing how angry you are right now, I think it would be better if you didn't have to see it again and again! It would be too much for you! That," Ikuko sighed, "and I feel guilty about not knowing Sammy was there. I feel awful for what I let him go through. I got to prove it to myself and to him that I didn't intend on just letting him die, Serena. Maybe if I can be the mother now that I wasn't when he got injured, it would be a step in the right direction!"

"Mom," Serena said, "you don't have to feel sorry for yourself. You didn't know, and I'm sure he doesn't hate you. Yeah, you could've done things better and I'm sure you wish you could've, but that's the past, there's nothing you can do to change your mistakes now. All you can do is to learn from them and make sure this never happens again. There's only one person at fault here, too, and that's the person who came after you to begin with. Mom, no matter what you think of your abilities or the mistakes you have made, I trust you. I love you."

Ikuko and Serena looked at each other, and then hugged tightly for a few moments.

"Tell my dad I'm going to be alright," Serena said as the two shared their family bond. "He doesn't need to worry about me."

"Alright, sweetie. I love you, too. Thank you, Serena. I needed to hear that, especially coming from you."

Serena let a tear escape her as she let go of the embrace. With deep regret, Serena walked out of the hospital doors, her friends following her, unsure what to think about the situation.

"Good kid you raised there, miss," the black-haired and mustached Doctor said afterwards.

"I hope she makes the right decisions, though," Ikuko answered. "I'm afraid that guy might try again."

"I can call the police again, see if there is anything else they can do to protect you guys."

"No, don't bother. Would be a lost cause knowing them. Don't think they could do anything about some freak of nature with supernatural powers, anyway. Probably just hide from him like they would anyone else. They probably would think I was some kind of weirdo."

"I'm sure they would still care, but I'll respect your wishes nonetheless. Let me know if you change your mind. I'll go and catch up the paper work for Sammy. You should get some rest. G'night, miss. If you need anything, let me know." Mesta then left Ikuko to do his work, making sure his long, white doctor's coat didn't get caught on any doors along the way.

'_Why did he say you were Sailor Moon, Serena?_' Ikuko thought. '_You don't have to hide it from me if you are. If it's true, please do me a favor and let this guy have it. Sammy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to neglect you._' She tried her best to keep her tears hidden as she went to the room that her husband was being kept in.

**-xXXXXx-**

"He knows who I am, he knows how to find me, and he knows how to lure me out," Serena was saying as she continued to fight with several decisions in her mind.

"That guy said you were a hero," Raye responded.

"I'm no hero. I'm just a teenager. Someone who tried to hide my problems from you guys, from my parents, everyone. I was never like that."

"You were correct, though," Luna answered. "Be careful what you wish for!"

"Yeah, I got it alright. At least now I know that it's for my own reasons. I need to avenge Sammy, avenge myself. I'm no hero. My family is hurting now because of me, and so help me, that will never happen again."

"Just don't tell her, whatever you do," Artemis said.

"Actually," Luna chimed in response, "maybe we should let her make that decision herself."

"Why should she?"

"Because," Luna continued as she now faced Artemis, "for one, Serena has felt responsible for this because she never said anything about her other life. And two...I don't think her mother is going to be untrustworthy about something like that. It wouldn't hurt us from the Sailor standpoint."

"Oh no, I don't mean that. I sensed she was pure. But if Serena feels as though that's the reason why she's somehow responsible for this, then imagine the guilt she might inure once she were to reveal that to her mother, and then say that she could've done something to prevent this. I don't want to see the result of that. I wouldn't reveal it. Not yet, anyway."

"My mother is going through too much right now," Serena added. "I want Rubeus' head first. He now knows who I am, so if he wants a fight with me, he knows I'm not that hard to find."

"As long as I can get the old Serena back," Luna responded. "I want the cheery girl you once were. I miss that, Serena!"

"Hey, you said the good grades can stay, Luna," Lita smiled.

"I do want them to stay, but if it means that I lose the side of her I fell in love with..."

"She's always been here, Luna," Serena answered. "No matter how much I grow, I'll always remember who I can trust, who has been here, and who can help me. You guys are so important to me. I'd never give you guys up for anything." She then turned to Darien, who had to bite his tongue to not say how seldom she was even acknowledging his presence there. "Darien, I need you to do me a big favor."

"Anything for you," Darien answered.

"Stay here and look after them for me. If this creep comes back, I want to know there's someone that'll make him think twice about attacking my family again."

"But Serena,..."

"I trust you so much, I wouldn't ask you this if I didn't care for you as much as I do, you know that."

"I can't stand to see you hurt, though. If anything were to happen to you and I wasn't there to do what I could..."

"Rubeus wants to come after me, Darien. It was me that should've taken those shots; it should be me in that damn ICU hooked up to those damn machines. This is unlike anything I've faced before. This is not about protecting the future or guarding any crystal. He's made this very personal, and I intend on showing him how personal it really is. If anything happens, Darien, you know how to get in touch with me, alright? And don't worry about who knows it. If he's going to attack them again, I'd rather them know about you being Tuxedo Mask than him laying a finger on them."

Darien let out a deep sigh, signifying that she was correct. "They're part of my family, too, Serena. I'll do anything to make sure they're alright, for me as well as you."

"Thank you, my love. Trust me, it pains me to be separated from you again, but at least now I know where you are." Serena turned around, walked a few paces, and then looked up at the starry sky.

"What's going on with the seriousness, Serena?" Luna asked. "I've never heard you talk like this before."

"I've never felt like this before, Luna," Serena answered, now with her hands balled up in fists and trembling violently. "Rubeus is going to realize that no one! Messes! With! My! _Family_!"

* * *

I hope you have enjoyed this little thing I have here, and I hope you will join me for further chapters. This is meant to be the first of several prequels that will precede my Deadworld fanfiction. Reviews and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Good night, and good luck.


	2. Enter Casto

BLINDED BY REVENGE  
CHAPTER 2  
Enter Casto

Written by Darkpower  
Rating: 14 (Dialogue, Violence, Language)

* * *

'_The flight's taking too long,_' he thought. He was told this flight was the shortest route to Japan, but it sure as hell didn't feel like it. All he could do was to pass the time was listen to his CD Walkman, the music playing in his earphones. He brought so much music with him on this flight (along with everything else he needed, of course), yet he could've sworn he didn't have much left. Still, though, the short and burnt-blond haired, slim, six-foot man could've just as easily listened to some of his favorites again, or he could have just used this time to get the shut-eye he was probably going to need to beat the inevitable jet-leg that he was sure to experience upon stepping foot onto Japanese soil. Yeah, that what he should be doing instead of listening to this metal music by a band that decided to put a black snake on a black album cover for whatever reason they had.

The sixteen-year old male turned off his Walkman and put it to his side. That was the beauty of first class: it was much more spacious than anywhere else on the plane. It was even a window seat, which made this experience more enjoyable to him, or, in his own words, made it so that it "rocked" even more. He then reclined the seat and decided to try to get some sleep. He was a bit tired anyway, so why not? The movie that was playing could've put anyone to sleep. He didn't know what movie it was, but he knew one thing: it sucked, badly!

Yeah, he figured as much: the second he decided to kick his feet up and get comfortable, he heard that annoying pilot's voice proclaim, "We will soon be landing in Tokyo, Japan. Please keep yourself in an upright position and keep seat belts on. Thank you."

"And remember," a female pilot's voice echoed a few seconds later, "to those with window seats, to look at the view of Japan. You should see it at any time now." If only he could get that girl's phone number. She sounded so cute to him. He could only dream, though.

He looked out to realize that they were indeed below the clouds now, and he could see what was surely the popular Tokyo skyline before him. This was an incredible sight to see, and he had become a big city slicker lately. He didn't mind the busy behavior of the world, or at least, not as much as he used to, but he knew he would have to soon get used to a bit of a smaller town again, since he planned to go to a suburb of Tokyo.

"Don't worry, sis," the deep voice calmly whispered to himself. "We'll be together again real soon."

**-xXXXXx-**

"Sir," the raspy escort waved at the man who couldn't wait for that flight to be over. He headed straight for the person who was waving him down in the Tokyo Airport. Other than it being in another country, it wasn't any bit different than a normal airport. Had the luggage claims, screens with departing times on them, and some small outlet restaurants. Sure, things were in a different language now, but that he could manage, and it wasn't difficult at all once he got to learn Japanese a bit.

"Yeah, I'm here," the young man answered to the male escort who had his name written on a piece of cardboard, something the young man could've sworn was only done in the movies.

"How many bags did you bring with you, sir?"

"You don't understand. This is not going to be a vacation where I leave in a week or anything like that."

"Wait, you're _moving_ to Japan? First time I've ever heard of someone doing that."

"Foreign exchange."

"But you don't look young enough to still be in school."

"I know. I have my reasons, though. Someone I know lives here."

"Ah. Hunting for your blood relations, I see? Well, I wish you luck. Hopefully you find them."

'_Don't worry_,' the young one thought, _'I definitely will._'

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena had gotten the call just ten minutes ago. They thought Sammy was going to be alright, but he instead had gone into cardiac arrest. When she got to the hospital, it looked like Sammy was having a seizure, but it was when she looked even closer that she knew that a seizure would've actually been tame compared to what Sammy was going through: temporal shock!

"_Clear_!" she could hear a doctor scream before those two things that looked like irons were put onto his chest. Then, as if trying to jump start a car with a dead battery, he jolted him with whatever it was. It apparently didn't do its job, because the doctor had to do this a few more times. No luck on those tries, either.

"Sammy!" Serena cried out. She continued to call out to him, pounding her fist on the glass, the only thing she could think of. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, her mouth became dry, and she was out of breath even though she felt like she had limitless lung capacity.

"Don't let him die! _Damn it, don't let_-_don't let him die_!" She screamed, punching the glass so hard she could've sworn that it should've broke at that point. But a few jolts later, the doctors let out heavy sighs.

"It's no use. We've lost him," the head doctor said somberly.

"Sammy!" Serena shrieked, ignoring any security protocols and rushing into the emergency room where her brother was, shaking him and crying out. The doctors seemed to give her all the room she needed.

"Sammy! I'm sorry! Please, don't leave me, bro! I should be the one that's dead! Not you! C'mon, dude, I know you're tougher than this, you're much more stubborn than this! Please, don't do this to me! I-I'm sorry!" She then stroked his hair gently, feeling the coldness of his scalp as his soul had just left him. "No! Please! Damn it, you jerk, say something! _Anything_! Oh God!" She buried her tear-soaked face into her brother's chest. "Sammy, forgive me, please! I should've told you who I was! I should've known he would try this! I should've trusted you more! Sammy, he was right! I'm Sailor Moon, that's why he came for me! He wanted me, and you're...I don't deserve to...SAMMY, WAKE UP! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING, IF YOU JUST WAKE THE HELL UP! PLEASE, SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" She looked around to find that the doctors were gone. She didn't even notice them leave. "NO, DON'T LEAVE HIM HERE! HE CAN'T BE DEAD! GOD, HE CAN'T...!"

She then felt nothing but sheer anger, and her eye caught one of the many machines that Sammy was hooked up to. All she could think of doing was to shove the towering thing down to the ground, and that was followed by her doing exactly that. She then grabbed one of the monitors and threw it through the glass (_now_ it broke). It crashed and broke, and she was about to hear the sparks from that thing...

**-xXXXXx-**

...when her eyes suddenly shot wide open with her face buried in cold sweat. She wasn't in a hospital, but now wide awake in the Hikawa Shrine. What just happened? Was Sammy really...? She would have to check for sure. She immediately grabbed her Sailor communicator and went to call Darien, who she had asked to stay at the hospital (she had asked Luna give him a communicator of his own for this very reason while the group was there). Within seconds, she knew she was connected.

"Darien, please hear me! C'mon!"

"Yes, Serena?" Darien said on the other end.

"How's Sammy? Is he still alright?"

"Yeah, Serena. He could be in a bit of a better situation, but nothing's changed. Why you ask, hon? You look like hell!"

"I-It's nothing. My psyche is just playing with me, giving me nightmares."

"It'll be alright. Trust me, if anything new happens, I'll call you."

"Thanks, Darien."

"Don't worry about Sammy, either. He's definitely what you said he was: very, very stubborn. He's not letting that wound kill him. It's like he's daring Rubeus to try again."

"Rubeus knows what'll happen if he does try again!"

"Yes, I agree. I need to get some sleep, though. You should do the same. Wipe that sweat off your face, too."

Serena nodded. "Alright. Love you."

"Love you, too." She then cut the connection and put the communicator on the floor right beside her, only to see that Raye was staring at her.

"So, that was you screaming up a storm!" Raye said, sitting down next to her.

"I-I'm sorry, Raye," Serena answered, sitting up a bit to get onto eye level.

"No need to apologize, girl. From the looks of things, you had one hell of a nightmare. Care to tell me what it was?"

"Raye, I...I wouldn't be able to live with myself if Sammy were to die because of me."

"It's not your fault, Serena."

"Yes it is, Raye! I should've told them from the very beginning about this Sailor business, they would've known how to deal with Rubeus. They could've at least known that I even have these kinds of enemies."

"You didn't know he had the audacity to do something so cowardly. Hell, none of us knew he was even alive, much less that he had heard anything about who we were."

"I didn't want to tell them why I was so distant from them, either. They thought I was just being a normal teenager and all. Nothing I have done has ever been normal."

"Serena, I know it's tough to go through, and I know you feel guilty right now, just as guilty as I heard your mother was last night. Everyone thinks about what could've happened if they could just do one or two things differently. They worry too much about the past. Tell yourself of what you can do to prevent this from ever happening again; that's what you told your mother. You did the right thing by asking Darien to keep an eye on them in case he decided to try again."

"Yeah," Serena answered, rising to her feet and walking near the wall, staring at it. "I never thought I would actually be sounding the way I did. Never thought that me, the flake of the bunch, would be the one that people thought was the smartest and was the hero. I'm no goddamn hero, Raye. Heroes prevent something like this from happening to begin with."

"You're growing up. That's what happens when you get older. You tend to think about what will happen in the future, how you need to prepare for it."

"Yeah, but every other kid thinks about leaving their friends, family, moving out, and starting a life of their own. I'm worried about what madman is going to come after me and my family next, or who might try to destroy the cities we hold dear. Nothing can prepare you for stuff like that."

"Agreed. I knew Rubeus was a coward, but I didn't think he'd do that. What's even scarier is that because we know he's capable of harming your family, what else is he capable of?"

"Don't want to even think that! God, Raye, I still think I should say something to my family about me being Sailor Moon."

"Artemis did say to hold off on it for now until this whole thing settles down."

"He didn't want me saying anything to them at all."

"Changed his mind, though, about it being all this superhero's identity rule thing."

"Yeah, screw that rule. If my family is in danger again, the whole world will know that secret before I let him harm them."

"He's only worried that saying anything now would make a bad situation worse, and you might feel guiltier."

"Yeah, he had a point on that. I just hope things stay calm while I'm at school today."

Raye's eyes widened as she jumped back up to her feet. "You...can't be serious. You're going to go to school in the mindset you're in?"

"Got to, Raye," Serena answered, turning around to face Raye again. "Got to be strong even like this."

"Serena, I scold you so much for being lazy and a flake and hating school and all, but even I'm telling you to not worry about school today. You're too distracted and won't learn anything, and I think people will understand that you're suffering through a terrible time."

"Raye, I know what you're saying, but still, I've got this feeling that if I miss school today, I'm going to miss something extremely important."

"Like your sanity?"

"No, Raye, I'm being serious."

"So am I."

"I know-but there's just-something drawing me in today. Worst time for school to suddenly do that, I know, but it isn't the lessons or homework that's giving me this feeling. It's something else. I'm sorry, Raye, but I'm going."

"Alright, but promise me one thing. If at any point you feel as though you can't take it, call me. I'll bust you out of there so fast they won't know what hit them, okay?"

Serena nodded. "Yeah, promise."

Raye then embraced her friend, and she felt Serena return the gesture.

"Serena, no matter what, we're your friends, and we'll never desert you for anything. We all love you, sister, and we've got your back."

"Thank you, Raye. I love all of you, too."

**-xXXXXx-**

Miss Haruna was not focused right away on Serena's discontent, though she had heard about the unfortunate circumstances that befell the young girl and wanted to say something about it to her. However, she first had to discuss some new business with her class.

"Students," she began, "let me introduce you to a new student we have. You may think he's older because he's taller-I certainly thought so-but he's from the United States of America, and he's joining us in a foreign exchange program. His name is Casto."

The new student stepped forward, revealing himself to be the man that had been traveling in the plane yesterday, even though of course that fact was unknown to anyone besides him. He was in the normal light blue school uniform with the button up shirt and white shoes.

"Casto," Haruna continued, "I'm afraid we only have one seat available."

"That's quite fine, ma'am." With that, Casto took his seat, right next to Serena, who only studied him up and down. She was always boy crazy, and she would've called him sexy and all, if it wasn't for her current unhappiness. However, was also a sudden vibe she got once he sat down. Haruna began her class soon after, without any hiccups.

However, during class, Casto took quick looks at his neighboring classmate. He was concerned about how out of it she was, no doubt. Near the end of the class, Casto suddenly handed Serena a slip of folded-up notebook paper.

"Serena," he whispered, "don't say anything. Read it after class is over."

Serena did just that, and Haruna turned around from the chalkboard soon after. Casto was afraid that she had heard him talking and passing notes. Instead, she decided now was the time to discuss something else.

"That's all I have. Fortunately for you, I don't have any assignment planned for you today because of me being busy with getting Casto added and all. But I do want to mention to you, Serena, that I'm deeply saddened for what happened to your family yesterday. I can't imagine how you could be here in the state of mind you must be in, especially when you know that someone committed that heinous act. I hope you'll be alright."

"Yeah," Serena answered. "I'll be fine. Just have to shove it to the back of my mind somehow."

"If you need to talk to someone, I'll be here. You could go to our school counselor, as well."

"Thank you."

The bell rang soon afterwards, and the students filed out. Serena had even more on her mind now, as she held that piece of paper that Casto had given her in her hand. She had every intention of reading it, but she didn't want anyone to think she was cheating on Darien because of her grief. She would've liked to keep as low of a profile about the incident as possible, even though she was more than thankful that Miss Haruna had given her condolences.

She went into the girl's restroom and into one of the stalls. Locking the door, she unfolded the piece of paper she held. What she read on it startled her.

It read, in all capital letters, "MEET ME AFTER SCHOOL, PRINCESS SERENA!"

**-xXXXXx-**

"I don't know, Serena," Molly said to Serena outside the school during lunch. "Sounds fishy to me."

"Calling me princess and all. Kind of creepy that he just met me and he's flirting with me."

"Did you tell Darien about this yet?" Melvin asked.

"Oh, hell no! Not yet, anyway. We don't need any more drama than what we've already had."

"Why Sammy, though?" Melvin continued. "That kid didn't deserve any of that."

"My mother feels that it was her fault for not protecting him and not knowing he was in the house at the time. I feel like it's my fault for not being there to begin with. I've been really out of it lately."

"No, Serena, you shouldn't blame yourself," said a mysterious male voice from behind her.

"Casto?" Serena asked. All three in the group turned to see the new kid waving at them with a half-smile as he approached the group.

"I see you got my note. Don't forget."

"What's with you calling me princess? You don't even know me! You don't think that's a bit creepy?"

"I apologize if it's sudden, but I really have something important to share with you that I can't do in public."

"O-kay," Melvin answered. "First you creep her out with calling her a princess, and now you're using that line? Remind me when your mind's out of the gutter!"

Casto answered with a sigh. "Yeah, sorry about sending the wrong message. I forget that Japanese people are worse at being gutter-minded than us Americans are, and I thought we were the worst. In any case, Serena, I do have to discuss some things with you. I promise I won't harm you or anything, but it has to be alone. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get my lunch." Casto then walked back into the school building.

"Serena," Molly said afterwards, "I think he gave that note to the wrong person! Maybe he meant that note for me! My lord, is he ever fine!"

"Ah, here we go," Melvin answered. "C'mon, Mol, I've gotta have a talk with you about those types of guys."

"Like what?"

"C'mon!" Melvin commanded, playfully dragging Molly by the arm. It was a bit of a mixed blessing for Serena that he did that, because it gave her some time alone to think.

'_Why did you call me by that, Casto? How do you know that?_'

**-xXXXXx-**

It had reached the end of the school day, and Casto was standing near the front door, waiting for Serena to come out. It took a little bit of time, but Serena came out about ten minutes after school was over, bag in hand. She was in a way hoping that Casto would forget this encounter he requested, though she didn't think he would.

"C-Casto? You're still here?" Serena asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked in response, still with his arms crossed, leaning against the brick wall surrounding the school perimeter. "C'mon, let's get to where no one will hear us."

"No way, you creep! First, you tell me why you called me Princess Serena! I'm not your princess!"

"Serena, take it easy!"

"Like hell I will! You have any idea what kind of messed up shit I've had to put up with recently? Someone attacked my family, put my brother in the ICU, and now I get this note from someone who's wanting some sort of make-out session with someone he just met, and never talked to before. It's has got me on wits end! So you better have one damn good reason why you slid this note to me today, or else I'm going to really start going AWOL on your ass, you..."

Serena couldn't get any other words out as Casto grabbed her and carried her to the alley behind the school grounds. He then put her back down onto her feet.

"Serena, you have to trust me. I know you, more than you think I do," Casto answered. "I'm not looking for a date from anyone. Especially from my sister."

"You have...wait, what? Your _sister_?"

"That's the business I needed to talk to you about, Serena. I'm Casto, though you probably don't remember my other story. I was your brother on the Moon. Princess Serena, daughter of Queen Serenity. Moon Kingdom got leveled by Queen Beryl, but I left two years before that happened. Loads of reasons why I left."

"Wait, now I see the reason for you calling me princess. But...wait, I have no memory of a brother on the Moon."

"Luna probably gave you some of that memory back, didn't she?"

"You know who Luna is?"

"The feline that was a messenger on the Moon. Her and Artemis. Yeah, I know who they were. They probably don't remember me, so they couldn't recall that part. As for Serenity, I don't think she was in any mood to remember me. I think she was so angry about me leaving that she omitted my existence from her memory out of spite."

Serena, however, had other reasons to suspect Casto. Without warning, she slammed Casto's back to the brick wall, with her forearm nearly cutting his throat.

"You know way too much, Casto!" she growled, trembling.

"What the...?"

"You must know where I can find Rubeus! He's the one that tried to murder my family to lure me out!"

"I didn't know about that until today!"

Serena slammed Casto's back against the brick wall again. "_BULLSHIT_! You had to have known something was going to happen! You had to have known that Rubeus had every intention of trying to kill my family! My brother, my real brother, is in the goddamn ICU, and if I hear that you had anything to do with it, I swear to God, I'll kill you right where you stand!"

"This isn't the Serena I remember!"

"The Serena you remember didn't have to deal with what I have to deal with now! My house was covered in blood, I didn't know where anyone was when I first went in, and I feared...my God, Casto, I thought I was going to be an orphan! You have any goddamn idea how that fear feels? I'm sure you don't, and now you want to play these games about me being your sister? You've got some nerve!"

"Y—You're choking me, Serena!" At this point, Casto's feet were nearly off the ground as he fought to get any amount of air he could into his lungs.

"You should be lucky that's all I'm doing to you! Don't _ever_talk to me again, and pray to _God_ that you're not linked to Rubeus, because if you are, your blood will be on my hands!" Serena then let him go and walked away, Casto dropping down to one knee, finally being able to get the same air back that he had just a moment ago taken for granted.

'_But you are my sister, Serena! You must believe me!'_

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena dropped her bag at the door of the Shrine, went into the room that she was sleeping in, collapsed and began crying. She couldn't stop crying, and it wasn't just the meeting with Casto that was eating at her. Actually, that was a main reason, but it was coupled with what she had been going through the past few days.

"How could you dare tell me something like that?" Serena asked to the thin air, imagining Casto still being there, punching the floor hard with her fist. "How could you make me get as violent as I got? I hate you, Casto!"

"Who's Casto?" Serena heard a familiar voice echo within the room.

"Raye, I didn't think you were here," Serena answered, still sobbing.

"What's bothering you, girl? I told you I would bail you out of school if you needed me to!"

"It was nothing during school. It was after, but it's no big deal."

"The hell it isn't, Serena!"

"Oh yeah? How can you tell?"

"You forgot to take off your shoes at the door."

Serena looked to see that she indeed forgot to remove her shoes before going inside.

"Not that I would care right now," Raye continued, "but I don't know what grandpa would think of it. Besides, you need to relax right now. You're getting all worked up." Raye then sat down next to Serena, who got those shoes off immediately. Raye then tossed them outside the door and closed it soon after. "There, and you're not getting them back until you tell me what happened." Raye then sat back down, right beside her friend.

"This new student from the States came to my school today. Casto. Called me Princess Serena in this note he slipped me. He detailed everything about the Moon Kingdom, but I don't remember having a brother. I thought he may have been one of Rubeus' new henchmen trying to get me to become soft, so I smashed his back against the wall, told him never to talk to me again, and to hope that I don't find out that he's working for him."

"Casto? Some name."

"Yeah. He said something about leaving two years before Beryl attacked, and that Luna and Artemis didn't speak to him that much, and Serenity didn't really like him fleeing the Moon Kingdom so she just intentionally forgot his existence. I didn't believe it for a second."

"I don't know, Serena. Something about that name sounds familiar to me."

"Either way, I was about to kill him, Raye, and I didn't care. I had my arm at his throat, choking him. I didn't even know I had that much strength in me to do what I did."

"Sounds like you're going through the stages of grief. Now it's anger, at anything that moves. Perhaps he is your brother, but he caught you at the worst time."

"I can't remember having one, Raye. I'm sorry, but even with all the mind melds Luna gave me, the brother thing never came up."

"Maybe we should call the others about this one. This might be something we can investigate."

"I don't know if you should trouble yourselves. He didn't sound believable."

Raye scooted closer to Serena. "Do you really believe that he's not to be trusted, or is that you defense mechanism working?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were ready to kill him because of an assumption. You don't know about him being with Rubeus, or that he even has any henchmen, but because he knew so much and claimed to be your brother, you suspected that he could be associated with him. I bet you would've done that to anyone."

"No, Raye, I didn't..."

"Are you sure you never want to speak to this guy again? You sure you're not in the least bit curious?"

"Well, I want to prove that he...it was just..." Serena buried her head in her hands, "God, I'm so confused right now."

Raye put her arms around Serena, letting her cry some more. It was a very tough time for the girl, Raye knew that. She also knew that given normal circumstances, Serena wouldn't have done as much to the new student as she actually had.

"Serena, let's at least be on the safe..."

"_Oh_,_ Serena_!" yelled a voice suddenly from outside.

"Oh God, no," Raye gasped upon hearing the familiar male voice.

"Rubeus!" Serena growled. She immediately broke out of Raye's embrace and rushed outside as quickly as possible.

"_Serena_!" Raye yelled, going after her.

**-xXXXXx-**

"I told you, Serena," Rubeus yelled, a furious Serena now looking right up at his vertically-floating body, "it wasn't going to be the end of our fight!" Rubeus then saw Raye coming out of the Shrine, flanking Serena and ready to defend her. "Ah, so you decided to actually bring your friends this time, or should I say, your half friend."

"No half friends, you idiot!" Raye hammered.

"Oh, but now that I know who you are, I was able to realize how much you two fight with each other over every little petty thing."

"You wouldn't know the first thing about friendships, Rubeus!" Serena growled. "I still owe you for..."

"What, you mean Sammy?" he asked. Serena was in shock that Rubeus knew his name. "Don't worry. I'm not through with him yet!"

"You little..."

"Ha! You want to fight me? Be my guest! On the pier, tonight! You'll get your wish! But don't be surprised if your little brother's life hangs in the balance!"

"_What_?"

"See you then!" Rubeus then disappeared again. Serena fumed over what he just said about Sammy's life being on the line in the fight.

"Raye, I'm going! It's time I put an end to this!"

"Hold on, Serena! He was way too eager to make that challenge. I know you're angry and want to kill him, but think for a moment. He knows that, and will be looking to take that and put it to his advantage. He's expecting you to go alone because that's the fight you want. Don't think he doesn't have a plan against you."

"Yeah, my brother's life!"

"I'll get the others to come with us. He isn't expecting all of us, nor is he expecting you to not let your anger cloud your better judgment. It's the first time that any of us have seen you act completely out of anger. It was why your mother thought it would be better for you to be with us than at the hospital with that reminder of what happened. Don't let Rubeus use it against you."

"Okay, but I'll have to make him think I'm coming alone."

"We'll make sure he doesn't win this time!"

Serena nodded as they went inside to think up a plan. However, the eavesdropping of the groups at the Shrine had become a habit, as now Casto was at the bottom of the steps, listening to Serena and Raye talking about Rubeus.

"No, Serena," he said to himself, "he _does_ have a plan; he never just challenges anyone without a plan. You were never the unforgiving type, it's what made you a tough girl to beat in a magical fight. You're going to have one more person to worry about this time, Rubeus: me!"

**-xXXXXx-**

"Okay," Luna said on the way to the pier, "so Serena goes in first, making Rubeus think she's done exactly what he thinks she'll do."

"And then, when he least expects it, we come in and give him the fight of his life," Lita added.

"We gotta win this fight," Serena said, still fuming somewhat. "Rubeus did threaten to hurt Sammy again! He won't think twice!"

"Just remember, Serena, keep that anger in check," Raye responded.

"Yeah," Amy amended. "Don't let it be the detriment."

Night had fallen on Juuban, and the pier was the destination. It was deserted, as nearly nothing except steel pipe and graters were found within it.

"Been a while since we've been here," Mina added. "This is where I first met you guys."

"Which is what makes me even more uneasy about being here," Raye answered. "This is also where Beryl first found out who Tuxedo Mask was."

They soon reached the fence door that led into what would've normally been the staff-only area of the pier. Serena let out a deep sigh. This was where they planned to have Serena go in first.

"Part of me still just wants to see his blood smeared on the walls like he did to my family," she said. "That won't ever change. As I said before, no one messes with my family!"

"I wouldn't mind seeing that, either...figuratively speaking, of course," Luna responded, correcting the out of character line she just said. "But we need to be a team here, and you can't let your anger be your weakness. Let us help you."

"Yeah," Raye said. "That's why we're here."

"Thank you, everyone. Especially you, Raye. What he said earlier, about us fighting all the time. You know, we may bicker and crack on each other in the future, but no matter what, Raye, I want you to know that I trust you with my life. Always have."

"Same here, girl. Now, let's show this asshole why you never mess with the Sailor Soldiers, or any of our loved ones." The rest agreed with Raye with a unison "Yes!"

**-xXXXXx-**

"Alright, Rubeus," Serena yelled, "I'm here! I'm ready for you and whatever you're thinking!"

"Right on time!" she heard Rubeus yell. She finally spotted him on the roof of a large crane vehicle. "I didn't think you would show up on time, with you being late for everything!"

"Not this time, you piece of sh-!"

"Ah, ah, ah! Watch that mouth of yours, girlfriend! You remember who I have very firm access to now! I'll wash your mouth out with the soap known as Sammy's death!"

From a hidden alleyway in between the harbor buildings, the others became sickened at what they just heard.

"That no-good son of a bitch," Raye whispered, albeit with a slight growl in her voice.

"You'd be wise not to try to inflame me again, Rubeus, if you know what's best for you!"

"Yeah, right! Remember, you couldn't beat me on that ship a few months ago! What makes you think you can kill me now?"

"Because I got you right where I want you!" Serena retorted, before raising her hand.

'_Yes, Serena,_' Rubeus thought. '_Open it up. That locket, it's what I've been aiming for all along._'

"Moon, crystal, power! Make...AHHH!"

All that Rubeus needed was for Serena to open the locket that contained the Moon Crystal. Now that he knew who she was, he could stop Serena from transforming into Sailor Moon. He also revealed something else: harming the crystal as it was beginning to transform her had harmed her, as well. Serena fell to one knee, screaming in pain from a dark lightning beam that was firing right at the crystal.

"Yeah, Serena! Try to transform now, _bitch_!"

Serena tried to get that brooch back onto her chest, but she couldn't close it fast enough, as Ruebus fired lightening constantly at the crystal.

"Serena!" Raye yelled. "C'mon, guys, she's in trouble!"

"This is what we were afraid of," Luna yelped. "He had a plan in mind!"

Rubeus was continuing to fire, with Serena being in a near-fetal position on the ground screaming, trying to do anything she could to withstand this pain. She couldn't understand what he was doing to her.

"Yeah, that's it! Scream for my mercy on you! I'll make sure you die for ruining my plans for the Black Moon!"

"_Stop right there_!"

Rubeus stopped firing to look to his right. There stood the other Sailors, already transformed, ready to fight.

"So, you want to try to stop me, eh? And look at this, even the girl that wants to take leader away from this pathetic excuse for a Sailor wants to protect her now!"

Raye had no other thought in mind than to strike this man with all she could give him. "Mars, celestial...!"

Rubeus, however, struck one of the piles of pipes before she was able to finish her attack. The pipes came down extremely fast, before the Sailors had a chance to react, plowing over them. That's how you battled magic, he knew: By using physical means to beat them.

As the others now were on the ground, pinned by the weight of the pipes on top of them and trying to escape, Serena was defenseless. Darien was still at the hospital, and Serena was trying desperately to call him to let him know she needed him right now. However, she couldn't even push the button as Rubeus went back to firing at her crystal.

"Yeah, right, Serena! You think he really loves you, wants to help you?"

"A-always, creep!" Serena fought to verbalize. She knew as soon as Darien left the hospital to fight Rubeus with her, knowing what Rubeus was capable of and what she heard him say earlier, that Rubeus would go after Sammy and wouldn't even bother with Serena. Thus, she urged him, even though he had fought and fought to get her to change her mind, to stay at the hospital. This was proving to be a bad decision, however, because everyone could really use him.

"Wait a minute!" Rubeus yelled. "On second thought, go ahead! I dare you to call him away from your brother, Serena! That's all I need to finish that brat off! And then, once he's gone, I can finish what I began with your father, and then, the woman who seemed to want to defy me! Yeah, Serena, your mother got lucky, but she won't be again! Go ahead! Just remember, every rose has its thorn!"

"So that was his plan," Lita said. "Rubeus wants Darien out of the way so he can finish off Serena's family. Why does he want to kill them so badly?"

"Because he knows that'll get to her," Raye answered. "It's gotten to her already, and he hasn't even fully finished them off."

"C'mon, Serena! Call for your precious boy toy! Call for Tuxedo Mask! Remember what happened here a year ago! C'mon, you dumb bimbo! I wanna fight him!"

"_Which him_?" Rubeus suddenly heard. It was a male voice, all right, but it wasn't Darien's.

"Who the hell?" Rubeus asked, looking around to spot whoever just said that.

The girls and Rubeus all looked onto the roof of a security booth to the left of where Rubeus was standing, about five hundred yards away. Serena recognized him right away.

"_Casto_?"

"Serena, I'm sorry for spooking you the way I did! I assure you, though, I speak the truth!"

"Casto, is it?" Rubeus yelled. "The hell do you want, you amateur kid?"

"To completely kick your ass!"

"You gotta be kidding me," Raye whispered. "So that's the Casto that Serena was so angry about?"

"You heard of this guy?" Mina asked. The Sailors decided to give up trying to lift the pipes that pinned them to free themselves, opting to watch the show instead.

"Serena told me about the ugly encounter she had with him!"

"He does look familiar," Luna added.

"Either way, he's going to get himself killed! He has no idea what he's doing!"

"C'mon! Try your powers against someone who's a hundred percent ready for you!" Casto screamed again.

"Fine. I can't help if you have a damn death wish!" Rubeus fired his lightning beam at Casto. Avoiding the beam, Casto jumped off the building (it was only a two foot drop, nothing he never did before), and ran towards the crane machine, kicking on the engine as he jumped in one end and out the other. It caused Rubeus to have to jump from his perch and onto the ground.

"Holy...!" Raye said. "He's got some skills, all right!"

"Fancy work there, mister!" Rubeus snarled. "Too bad you don't have any real power like I do!" He continued to fire his lightning beam as Casto. Casto knew he couldn't keep dodging this thing forever. He had to do something in order to stop this madman.

However, the kid was getting the support of someone: Serena.

"I was wrong about him," she told herself. "He definitely isn't on Rubeus' side. But why is he insisting that he's my brother?"

Casto decided that now was the perfect time to go onto the offensive. He would have to do so quickly, however. As he circled the crane, Casto was out of Rubeus' eyesight. Rubeus tried to locate him, his head whipping back and forth in vain trying to get the jump on Casto before it became the other way around.

When he turned back to look ahead, however, he saw Casto's face right in his own face, and following that, Casto's fist hitting Rubeus' visage, which knocked Rubeus back a few paces. Casto followed up with a roundhouse spin kick into Rubeus' jaw, which sent Rubeus back first into the very crane he made he perch earlier.

"Okay, so you wanna play that way, you little punk?" Rubeus smirked, wiping his face with his forearm. "Fine, I don't need any power to finish you off."

Rubeus then backhanded Casto in the face, followed by a few more in succession. Casto was reeling back slightly, until Rubeus uppercut him and sent him back first into the ground. Rubeus went to ground stomp his opponent, but Casto rolled just out of the way and swept Rubeus' feet from under him, sending him into the ground the same way before Casto came back up to a vertical base. Rubeus somersaulted backwards to return to his feet. Rubeus tried to gain the upper hand by shoulder charging Casto, and it was working, picking Casto off his feet and shoving him into a brick wall hard. This was followed by a quick punch to the gut and a punch straight to the mouth after. However, when Rubeus went to punch him once more, Casto blocked it and knees Rubeus in the stomach, followed by a bicycle kick that made Rubeus stagger.

"Damn," Mars exclaimed, "this kid knows how to fight!"

"Yeah, and he knows how to frighten our friends," Jupiter responded with a quick sigh. _'And what I would do to make him pay for doing that?'_ she thought after.

"I"m just glad he's on our side," Mercury retorted.

Rubeus looked back to see Casto charging after him, quickly countering with another backhand to the lip. Casto struggled to keep on his feet, but when he regained his balance and looked at Rubeus once more, he saw that Rubeus had his hands up in front of him, and was not able to do anything else before Ruebus fired a beam shot at him. The beam connected on the chest, which sent Casto back a few feet though Casto was still vertical.

"Damn it!" Serena cried. "You really don't know how to fight fair, do you, Rubeus?"

"Shut up!" Rubeus yelled before firing a beam that hit her locket, and it was a miracle that the locket wasn't fazed by the shot. However, the beam hurt Serena as she cried out in pain.

"**Sis!**" Casto exclaimed, Rubeus turning his attention back towards the self-professed brother of the Moon Princess.

"You're getting on my last nerve, little boy," Rubeus growled, firing another beam that hit Casto's chest, and Casto dropped to one knee as a result. Rubeus was ready to fire another as he paced towards Casto's partially fallen body. "Curfew anyway, bud! Kids like you should be in bed by now, should they?"

"I'm no kid!" Casto trembled before punching Rubeus in the gut that made the villain hunch over. Casto followed up by a knee to the breadbasket. Rubeus stepped backwards quite a few feet, and he looked at Casto narrowly. He couldn't believe that Casto was still alive and still fighting as if he wasn't shot at all.

"Ugh, what's with you!" Rubeus yelled out, getting frustrated now. "Why can't any of you just _die_?" He then fired another beam in which his nemesis wasn't ready for. Casto was shot back from the beam that struck him again on the chest, breaking a pile of wooden crates upon impact.

"Oh no!" Serena mumbled. "Not again! Not when I could've done something about it again!"

"There we go!" Rubeus smirked. "Now, where was I? Ah yeah, Serena, and those pitiful Sailors! You thought that some kid was going to save you? You girls are pitiful!"

Rubeus then began to pace slowly towards Serena. As she was trying to recover from the shots she had been delivered, Serena could only hear the spine-chilling footsteps becoming louder and louder and extremely slowly. She was in no condition to defend herself, especially after the lightning on her crystal and the beam shot that the locket thankfully was able to keep from the jewel. However, she could hardly move at all, and Rubeus was stalking his prey, his footsteps being the only sound echoing in the vicinity.

"You should be quite thankful that your brother, confidant, friend, whatever he was, delayed your death," Rubeus snickered. "It only kept the inevitable from happening! If you don't believe me, look at your friends! All it took was one simple shot, and they are squashed down like the roaches they are! I thought they were supposed to have these magical powers, this strength that couldn't be matched! What the hell happened to them? Did they get rusty? Did they forget who they were? Or did they just stop caring?

"Shut up, Rubeus!" Mars screamed. "Serena's right! You don't know the first damn thing about friendship!"

"I know that you're going to let her die! Oh, I forgot, Sailor Mars, you wanted leader from the get go! You think she's such a crybaby, and such a ditz, that you would do anything to get such an incompetent leader out and you in! Admit it, Raye! Even if it means that Sailor Moon had to die, you would want to be leader! You hated her from the very beginning! This is what you've always wanted, right? For Serena, Sailor Moon, to learn her lesson the hard way! It would be you in my place fighting her if you could!"

"The hell I hate her, Rubeus! You have it all wrong! I trust her with my life and my soul, and I would do anything to make sure our leader—no, our friend, my friend—is protected! You have no idea how many times over I owe her my life! She's the strongest person I've ever met in my life, because she's changed a lot of minds about her! She proves it time after time how much of a friend she's willing to be, not that she has to prove anything to me or any one of us! I would do anything for her, especially protecting her family from the likes of scumbags like you that would prey on innocent, defenseless people! How dare you try to say that I would for one moment want to see her dead, and how dare you try to say that we're refusing to help her? You know damn well we can't move because of you blindsiding us! Why don't you make it a fair fight for once?"

"A fair fight," Rubeus hummed. "There's a concept, coming from someone who is in a group that loves to have strength in numbers! Five on one! Yeah, I don't know how you could call that fair! What a damn shame, though, that you continue to follow this pitiful wretch until the very end? Why don't we see what happens once I off the one girl that has been a thorn in my side from the day she was born? Let's see how you react then, eh? Time to die, you moronic, pitiful..."

"Not so fast, you dumb ass!" Rubeus heard Casto's voice again from behind him, and when he turned around, he saw Casto standing with dirt on his clothes, breathing heavily. Casto was hurt, but he was still standing.

"H-He's still alive!" Raye yelled, still somewhat in tears over what Rubeus was claiming.

Rubeus couldn't believe what he was seeing, either. "_What_? I knew it! You can't just die!"

Casto didn't say anything, but looked in his hand, clenching something in his fist. He held the object tightly, staring down Rubeus without giving an inch.

"What is he doing?" Raye said.

"I don't know, but I don't know what we're thinking, either," Lita exclaimed. "This is giving us a chance to get this stuff off of us. C'mon, we can get out!"

"Right," Mina agreed. "On three, girls! One! Two! _Three_!"

The girls all grunted, trying to get the heaviest pipe off of them. It took them a bit to actually do so, but eventually they managed. They were able to jump to their feet soon after, although they also stood still in wait to find out what Casto was trying.

Rubeus, however, cared little about that. He was too busy worrying about what Casto had in his hand. "What is that?" Casto didn't answer at all.

"I agree with Rubeus for once," Serena said beneath her breath, slowly trying to recover. "What are you holding, Casto?"

"I asked you a question, I expect a damn _answer_!" Rubeus screamed. "Or do I have to shoot you again?"

Casto stared Rubeus down, again staying completely silent, not moving a muscle. His stare narrowed, his posture as straight as an arrow.

"C'mon, kid," Mercury whispered. "Don't let him have the chance, whatever you do!"

"Okay," Rubeus continued. "Since you want to stand there, I guess you just want me to end your life! No problem for me!"

Casto, however, loosened his grip on the object he was holding, looked at it, and then began to move his arm.

"What's he doing?" Mars asked.

Casto then yelled only a few words, but they were enough to surprise everyone.

"Vulture! Power! Suit up!" He then raised that hand into the air, revealing a small golden medal, to which he then secured onto his belt. He began a transformation. His light blue school uniform became dark gray, he sported gray and black leather gloves and short black leather boots. Finally, he briefly flashed a shadowy set of vulture wings on his back, which disappeared a second after they showed themselves.

"What in the world was that?" Luna asked in shock.

"No way!" Rubeus exclaimed, also in shock. "Who are you? No..._what_ are you?"

"Your worst damn nightmare, Rubeus!" Casto yelled out. "I am the brother of the Moon Kingdom princess! I am the truth! I am the strength! I am the Vulture!"

Rubeus laughed. "The..Vulture? HA! You do realize that the Vulture means death, right? They're not meant to be protectors!"

"You got that wrong, Rubeus! They're respected in certain parts of the world, and are a bird of prey, like a hawk or an eagle! I intend to show everyone that they are given a bad name!"

"No worries! About to send you back to where you _came from_!" Rubeus, from both hands, began firing a more powerful version of his beam. Casto only stood there, awaiting the blow.

"Casto, get out of there!" Serena yelled, finally being able to get back to her feet.

Casto closed his eyes, though, and only shouted "Vulture Shield!" Suddenly, an opaque pair of dark purple and black vulture wings were seen in front of Casto, and completely block the beam. Rubeus tried to break through, but it proved futile.

"No, you're no god!" Rubeus answered. "You can die! I know you can, and I intend to kill you!"

"Everyone stand back!" Casto shouted.

"No, we can't," Artemis yelled back. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"I said stand back! Don't help me, whatever he does!"

"So, you're welcoming your death?" Rubeus asked. "That shield can't protect you forever!" He then fired that power beam again, only this time, Casto jumped up onto the same perch that Rubeus was on initially.

"It doesn't have to, Rubeus!"

Casto then made a vague "X" in front of his face, with his index finger and pinky stretched outside of an otherwise loose fist. He moved his arms outwards as a black aura of a cloud engulfed his body. His blank expression became one of great determination as his eyes narrowed again. Once his right elbow became outside of his immediate front side, Casto yelled out, "VULTURE!" He still had his eyes narrowed, his arms slowly coming out of that "X". and the rest of his body perfectly still. However, he suddenly moved his hands out of that cross, swirled them around quickly for a few milliseconds, and then with the left arm extended out in front of him with the hand out in a 45 degree angle to his arm, he clenched that arm with his right hand on the inside elbow and shouted, "ATTACK!" Immediately, a huge shadow cloud in the form of a vulture sped through Casto and smacked Rubeus right in the chest. The sheer speed and power of the entity was enough to send Rubeus side first onto the ground.

"You," Rubeus yelled, using his hands to try to regain his footing, "you're not human! You're a freak, a monster!"

"Could say the same about you! Now, I suggest you think twice before harming my sister's family again, or you're not going to be dealing with only her now!"

"Yeah, right! You think they will trust a freak like you? Never! Besides, you can't do anything to stop me if I really wanted to harm them!"

"Wanna bet?" Casto yelled, beginning to cross his arms once more. Rubeus, however, only disappeared into thin air. Casto looked at that spot for a few seconds before relaxing his arms and jumping off of that vehicle roof.

"You alright, Casto?" Raye asked

"Yeah," he answered. "Takes more than that to do me in!"

"What...what are you?" Lita exclaimed.

"A bird of prey. Long story of how I got this power. One that I think can wait." He then ran over to his alleged sister, who was staring at him with narrow eyes.

"Yeah, like how you can say you're my brother when I know nothing about you!" Serena said, suddenly shoving Casto back. "You could've done something, anything! You knew Rubeus was alive, and you did nothing about it!"

"No, Serena, stop this!" Casto pleaded, though Serena did not listen.

"Thanks for saving us, and for exposing yourself! Can't believe you would..." Serena couldn't get another word out before dropping to one knee and clenching her locket again, grunting in pain. As the rest of the Sailors rushed to the aid of their fallen friend, Casto immediately bent down and supported her with his arms.

"You need some rest, sis! He got you pretty good!"

"I suppose since you're claiming to be her brother and all," Amy asked, "that you could help us get her back to the Shrine for us, could you?"

"She would have to trust me, but yeah, I'll be more than willing to help her." He slowly scooped her up into his arms, Serena not in any condition to reject his assistance in any way. They all made their way to the Shrine, the Sailors all directing Casto towards where it was.

**-xXXXXx-**

Casto laid Serena down on the bed she was using while her family was incapacitated, the other Sailors (who had since transformed back along with Casto) looking on as he did so.

"Serena, I'm sorry," Casto sighed. "I don't know how I can say it that would make sense to you or in a way that would make you believe me right away. I wish I knew the way I could tell you, but you have to trust me."

"Casto," Serena responded, "I don't...I'm sorry, too. I know you mean well, but after all of this happened, I'm so confused and angry, and I don't know if I could trust anyone I haven't known for a long time. But it's nothing against you right now. It's me, actually."

"She's gone through a lot these past few days," Raye added. "She's probably not going to just trust you right away. Plus, you really haven't given any proof besides your words as to tell us that you're who you say you are."

"There is a way, I do believe, but it would require Luna's help, assuming she'd trust me enough to let me use her mind meld on my medal that I used to transform into what you saw back at the pier."

"She might. She said you looked familiar. That and you know how cats are."

"Casto," Serena said. "About earlier, and me nearly choking you to death..."

"No, Serena, no need to apologize. I know how you feel. I felt that way when my entire family was taken away that day. Trust me, I would've done the same to anyone if I were in your position. However, tomorrow, you _are_ taking the day off of school!"

"No, Casto. I'm sorry, but..."

"But nothing, Serena! I'll go to the counselor's office tomorrow and see about getting you a grievance period. Don't worry, I go to the same school you do, and I can tell them what I told you. Trust me, it would be good for you to have one less thing on your mind."

"I agree, Serena," Raye added. "I never knew you as being a bookworm."

"I'm not," Serena answered.

"Raye," Casto interrupted, "I'll see if Luna will help me with this tactic. It may be the only way to at least restore their memory of my existence. I don't know about anything else, though."

"I think you could fill us in about the rest later on," Raye answered.

"Okay. And Serena," Casto said, looking to Serena one more time, "no matter what, whether or not you believe me, one thing is for sure, you can trust me. All of you can. I'm on your side and I'll do anything to protect the Moon Princess!" Casto smiled at Serena and went out of the room.

"He certainly cares about you enough to be your brother."

"I don't know, Raye," Serena answered. "I'm not even sure if I should trust him with whatever he's planning with Luna."

"Whatever the case, do what he says tomorrow. Give yourself some time to relax, let him take care of the school thing."

Serena nodded. "Alright. I guess it would be helpful if I took a day off."

"There we go. Now, Serena, get some sleep. No alarm tonight."

Raye and Serena hugged one more time before Raye headed out and Serena tried to get some sleep. Sleep that she desperately needed.

**-xXXXXx-**

"Damn it!" Rubeus screamed as he punched the outside of his opened escape pod. "How in the hell can that doofus be able to beat me?"

He looked around at the landing site of his pod, somewhere in Antarctica, the pod having made an imprint in the snow and ice. No one would dare (or be able to) find him here in the middle of nowhere.

"Another day wasted! Need to find out what's up with that guy now, too!" Rubeus jumped into the seat of the pod. It didn't have any more power left to do anything, but this was the only real shelter that Rubeus had at this point, so this was where he could make his bed without anyone objecting. He was wanting to make as little of a profile outside of his business as possible.

As he crossed his arms and was ready to get some shut-eye, Rubeus spotter a small book underneath his seat.

"So, someone knew they would use this someday and decided to stash some reading material in here just in case? Weird." Rubeus then picked it up and looked through it. It was a book on strange and mysterious crystals. It was really the only thing he had to pass the time, so he thought, '_Why not?_'

"Magical tendencies, curing ailments! What was this guy's deal? Apparently my UFO was stolen from Area 51!"

However, on the next flip of the page, he skimmed through it, and something caught his attention.

Rubeus began reading aloud. "Great magical qualities. Anti-magical, but uses its own magic to cut off others magic. Any user of magic that is hit by its power falls under the risk of their magic imploding within them, and in effect, taking their life. While the residence of this pure black evil crystal is unknown, its properties could provide a clue as to its whereabouts."

He then narrowed his eyes evilly, an equal amount of evil within his grin. "Oh, man! This ain't over, Sailors! Not by a long shot! All I have to do is to find this thing, and all of you are as good as dead!"


	3. In The Eyes Of The Vulture

BLINDED BY REVENGE  
CHAPTER 3  
In The Eyes Of The Vulture

Written by Darkpower  
Rating: 14 (Dialogue, Violence, Language)

Just so you know, the way to pronounce "Hizrounswa" is "HIS-ROW-NAS-WA". Now you're set for this chapter.

* * *

Serena did exactly as Casto and Raye had told her. She didn't know how she was getting more and more interested in school, anyway. However, she still woke up early, as early as she had been these past few weeks (around six in the morning), and as she laid there, she couldn't help but think of the real reason why she was going to school: distraction. It proved to be a way for her to get her mind off of what was going on at the moment. The boredom and the recent attack on her family by Rubeus took a back seat if she had something different to occupy her mind, and right now, school was the absolute only thing that could anymore. Not that she was anywhere close to Amy's fixation, that much she knew. However, she was beginning to think of where she wanted to go after her high school years were over, which was part of why she was suddenly trying to do somewhat better with her grades. However, today, Raye and Casto both insisted that she take a few days off to grieve for her ailing brother. She had agreed to take the time, even though it was only to satisfy a demand.

She needed to get sleep, as always. She just couldn't fall into her dreamworld. She had too much on her mind. Sammy's health and the addition of Casto and whatever his alter-ego was that had defeated Rubeus last night were only two of the things making her have sleepless nights, the former causing nightmares now (even though she didn't have one last night). Serena sat up, crossed her arms on her knees, and hung her head, knowing that this was not what she needed right now. She needed something to happen, as long as what happened came in the form of good news. She couldn't take any more bad news.

She picked up her communicator, wanting to call Darien and check up on the situation with her family. However, she knew Darien was a little upset with how she was acting lately. Most recently, she had downright commanded him to stay at the hospital to protect her family. It turned out to be the right decision, but she didn't know if there would be a price. She wrestled with herself as to whether or not to actually call him today. She knew that he said that he'd call her if anything changed, but she was also worried that maybe something else had now changed: their relationship. That was another issue she had on her mind. She held the communicator in her hands for a few more seconds...

...and then laid it down. He was probably still sleeping, anyway. If he had heard anything this early, then he would've called her already. Maybe later on, she would ask him about her family. She needed to stop thinking about the worst and start thinking optimistically. However, she needed to do something else other than just lay there and hope that Raye or Casto would know she was awake. The others went back home last night to get some sleep, so no problems there. She decided to get some clothes on (not her school uniform, she knew that was out of the question today, she was still a woman of her word) and head outside for a little walk.

**-xXXXXx-**

The cool morning breeze blew against her pigtails, light blue blouse and slightly darker long skirt as Serena walked closer and closer to her own house. It wasn't really her destination, though she hadn't picked one. The walk was only to get some time to herself. As the morning sun began to rise and the day and night sky mixed to give the world's ceiling a perfect shade of purple, Serena's eyes spotted her house. It was a place that was indeed empty, and had been that way for the past few days now. It had never been like that at any point she could remember in her life, unless the family went on vacation or something. Now it was more abandoned than temporarily vacated. Against her better judgment, Serena walked closer to the house and to the archway. She looked though and to the front door. It was still able to be locked, though the broken hinges and cracks in the wood of the door were still there.

_'So my mother was right,'_ Serena thought. _'The police never did rope this place off. Anyone could've come in here and taken what they wanted.'_

Serena just stared at the door for a good minute or so, as she could remember the words she was thinking at the very moment she saw that something wasn't right.

'_M-Mom? D-Dad? Sammy? Oh, my God!'_ She heard herself echo from within her mind. She was replaying the memories of her eying the smeared blood on the walls and the crackling of several pieces of broken glass beneath her feet. She could also feel the horror again upon seeing such a sight, now feeling the nerve to walk into the front door for the first time since the attack.

Inside, the scene was no better than it was when she first discovered that something was wrong. There was still the smeared blood that she knew might take days to clean up, the glass on the floor that crunched beneath her feet. This felt more like Hell right now than her home. She didn't even know what possessed her to come back at this point.

Upstairs, Serena looked through the rooms, going first into her parents' bedroom. She could recall what she had seen and what she and her mother had said.

_'DAD!'_

_'Why, Serena? Why did he do this?'._

_'Who? Mother, tell me! Please!'_

_'Um...'_

_'Mother? You must know!'_

_'Uh, tall guy...short and spiky red hair, has this purple vest on him. That's all I really could see'_

She fumed after remembering how she had felt the first time she had heard that from her mother. How could Rubeus do such a thing?

She retraced her steps into Sammy's room. There, she could remember her shortness of breath (as if it wasn't shortened already by her fear), what she did to help Sammy, and the anger she felt. She feared the worst, and she was suddenly in tears as she looked at the kid's ransacked room. She swore on her life this would never happen again.

She saw a family portrait on his dresser. Her, Sammy, her mother and father, all standing there in Juuban Park, smiling for the camera. They were all in a group embrace, as if they loved their life and everything around it. As much as she and Sammy had their normal sibling rivalry, she cared so much for him and knew when the pettiness stopped and the truth about her bloodline began. She picked up the frame and studied it, putting a hand gently over her brother's face, stroking the picture at that spot.

_'C'mon, Sammy, stay with me, please. You're not going to die, not if I have anything to say about it, you hear me? Don't die on me!'_ Over and over again, Serena could remember every single word that she was saying to Sammy. Her nightmare the night before, as well, was one she could not forget. She would rather die than to feel at fault for something that was actually beyond her control. She continued to stare at the photo, sighing heavily, a million thoughts going through her head at once.

"Your family?" she suddenly heard a male voice ask. She couldn't believe it. He followed her here?

"C-Casto?" Serena looked to see that Casto was standing in the door frame. He walked into Sammy's room and looked at the picture that Serena was now holding.

"Is that your family?"

"My real family!" Serena then caught what she had just said, knowing what Casto was claiming, and backtracked a bit. "Well, I mean, the family that I'm used to the most, before all this princess business started."

"I can see now why you care for them so much. I know some families that could care less for one another. Good to see that blood is still thicker than water sometimes." Casto then turned around and looked out the window just above Sammy's bed. "Serena, I don't blame you for not believing me about me being your full blood brother."

"Casto," Serena whispered, still looking at the picture, incapable of taking her eyes off of it as she was talking to her new guest. "It's not just you right now. It's just...well, it's more of me than you. I think I would've done that to one of my best friends if they told me something like that all of a sudden. I'm sorry, I really am."

"It shocked me. It's not the Serena I knew. Though that was such a long time ago and I don't know what's happened to you since that day."

Serena let out another heavy sigh. "Casto, forgive me. I still can't truly believe your story. I want to, but I don't remember you in any way. When Luna restored my memory, she only gave me memory of my princess life near when Beryl attacked. She never gave me any memory beyond that, even though everyone seems to believe otherwise."

"Luna only appeared on the Moon Kingdom shortly before my departure. If they remembered me, it was only for the last few days, and that was probably just from me passing by them. I didn't hear about their induction as Serenity's advisors until a few days after I left. That's how I know of them. Never really met them until last night, actually."

Serena finally put the frame back onto the dresser gently, but now laying instead of standing on the cardboard lift that was behind it, though she still stared at it immensely. "Casto, how _do_ you remember me as? Who is the Serena that _you_ remember?"

"Caring, playful, curious! Damn, you were always curious! Mother described you many times as being as curious as a kitten! Had to laugh every time I heard that because I've seen it."

_'He recalls that, even though I never gave him any clue about it,_' Serena thought.

"Oh, and there was one more thing."

Serena stopped staring at the picture and looked at Casto. "What's that?"

"You were loyal. Very loyal! If you had a friend, or family member in danger, or needed someone, you were the first person there to help them, and you never left their side until things were resolved. You would die for them if you felt like you had to, even though I prayed that the day where you would have to make that decision would never come."

_'Exactly as I'm feeling now about Sammy. I wish I was the one in the ICU instead of him. I'm the one deserving of being shot, not him.'_

"Something wrong, Serena?"

"No, just too many things on my mind right now."

"Yeah, I can imagine. Well, on second thought, I don't know if I could or would want to imagine what you're going through right now."

"I don't think anyone could. I would never wish this on anyone. This isn't me, Casto! I'm so confused as to what to feel, how to act, what to do! I'm waking up early every day even if I don't have to, school is becoming my only distraction anymore! I've been bored, and because of that...I've become boring!"

"No you haven't, Serena!"

"And then you come in, and I attack you for no reason! I'm just so lost right now! On top of that, I haven't even been talking to Darien as much as I have been!"

"Your boyfriend?"

"Yeah! I told him not to show up for that fight last night that we had, to stay and protect my family in case Rubeus tried to harm them again in the hospital. He wasn't happy with me telling him to do that even though he listened anyway. I can sense he's not happy with me lately! I'm going to lose him again, and this time, I deserve it!"

"No you don't, sis! I don't think he's angry with you at all. He's just worried about you, he wants to help you as much as he can, and he feels powerless to do anything when he's not there by your side."

"I don't know, Casto."

Casto then put his hands on Serena's shoulders. This time, she didn't resist, as she actually felt more at ease with this touch than she was yesterday. "I do. Love will do that. He might be angry with you, but it's because he doesn't want you getting hurt and he thinks you're committing suicide by the way you're taking Rubeus on."

"I might be, that's just it. But-God, Casto, if anything happened to those I love-I don't know what I'd do without them in my life!" Serena then put her head below Casto's chin and put her arms around him. He didn't resist, either, doing the same with her.

"Don't worry about it, Serena. If he feels like you say he does, I'll talk to him. I'll make him know the right thing was done, and that you had every right to make that decision. It's your family, he should and does understand that."

"Thanks, Casto!"

"Anything for you, sis."

Serena was feeling nothing but emotional warmth coming from Casto. This wasn't a romantic type of warmth, but the same kind that she felt whenever she hugged her mother or father. It was one that she knew only those of her blood shared.

_'No, he couldn't be...I'm feeling...oh God, Casto, I'm sorry I...'_

"Serena, I got an idea that may restore some of that memory, but you have to trust me."

Serena broke off the embrace gently, now curious. "You mean about you being my brother?"

"Yeah. Luna can use her mind meld or whatever she called it on my Vulture Medal, which can then tell you more about my existence. I'm not sure about anything else, but I assure you that I'm on your side and I don't want you to think I'm giving you false memories. It's only to free the memory, not any of the emotions that you had about them."

"No, Casto, I don't think you're with Rubeus, not after you trashed him last night. Actually, I want to hear more of your story."

"Good. C'mon, let's go back to the temple. I told Raye to call the others to meet us there."

"But I thought you were going to school and telling them..."

"Closed today. Whatever construction they're doing there is requiring them to do work that would be too cumbersome if the students were in the way, and the things they were to be using might not be too good to smell."

"Ahh, the computer library. All that networking stuff or whatever it was. Forgot about that. They've had to do that a few other times before. Don't see why they have to close down the entire school, though."

"Yeah, I was surprised when I went to the school and the doors were locked. That's when one of the workers told me about it."

"Guess it's our lucky day."

"I guess. In any case, we should get going before the others start worrying about us."

As Serena exited the house, Casto stopped and grabbed the portrait she had been holding. He did his best to fit it into his dark-brown thin-leather jacket. He then followed Serena back to the Shrine.

**-xXXXXx-**

Rubeus spent nearly an hour studying the newly-found crystal book, looking at the information about the crystal that caught his interest. He questioned who in their right mind would put something so simple in something as advanced as his escape pod. Nonetheless, he continued to study, not sleeping at all.

"While the residence of this pure black evil crystal is unknown, its properties could provide a clue as to its whereabouts." Rubeus was reading line after line after line, again and again and again. For the second time, he felt that this was too good to be true. His suspicions about Serena being Sailor Moon were true, so he had confidence in this new discovery.

"It is said that the ancient gods created this crystal in the hopes that evil could protect against its own kind," Rubeus continued to read aloud, "but it wasn't the case. The crystal was said to be able to wipe out entire armies with the right amount of power, and that whoever wielded it could be considered a god. Rumors persisted for centuries that the crystal is possessed by the forces of Hell."

Rubeus looked up at the sky, smile growing. "So not only could I be able to kill Sailor Moon and that Vulture freak, but there is a chance that the new boy may be holding this damn thing. This couldn't be going any better. Alright, Casto, Vulture, whatever you're called, it's time you handed your belongings to me. This crystal shall be mine! All mine!" Rubeus then laughed hysterically.

**-xXXXXx-**

The girls had gathered at the Shrine. As Casto entered the main room, the others crowded around the table in the center.

"What's all this about?" Lita asked. "We just met you last night, and you're claiming to have known us all this time?"

"I don't know if you all know me as well as I know all of you," Casto answered.

"No offense," Amy added, "but all you've shown so far is that you know how to fight."

"That's alright, Amy. I didn't expect anyone else to know of me right away."

"Might want to get to this mind meld, then," Lita continued. "The way I heard you startled Serena yesterday, I would've been more than happy to kick your teeth down your throat."

"_Lita_!" Mina scolded. "Don't say that! Serena apologized! It was because she suspected something that she knew wasn't true. She admitted that, so whatever you think..."

"No, Mina, it's alright," Casto interrupted. "She has every right to be mad at me. I didn't mean to cause any trouble or anything, though I couldn't think of any other way to talk to her about it without anyone else knowing the true relationship between us."

"Well, still, Casto," Lita harked, "you scared a friend of mine and then made her as confused as possible! Forgive me if I'm not exactly wanting to be friends with you!"

"Lita, please don't," Serena pleaded. "We both made mistakes. I trust him now."

"Yeah, me too," Raye added. "He seems sincere about his intentions. Even if he isn't her brother, he helped us at the pier, and I sense that he would do so in the future if we need him."

"Don't worry," Casto said. "Everything will be explained to you in a few moments." He laid his medal on the center of the table and sat seiza-style at the end of it, facing Serena. "Now, a few things to say before I have Luna do this for me. This will only restore the memories of my existence. Nothing more is guaranteed, nor would I want it to be. I don't want to implant any artificial memories or anything like that. This is only to reawaken whatever memories you used to have concerning my existence. Also, while no emotional feelings will be reawakened by the meld, the memories may also remind you of any emotions, good or bad, you had for me. I assure you," Casto trailed, hanging his head, "whatever happens, I'll be ready for it, for better or for worse."

"Casto," Luna said as Casto finished, "shall I begin?"

"Yeah," Casto sighed. "Go for it."

Luna jumped onto the table and sat next to the medal. She only looked at it intensely, unsure of what to make of it herself. However, as she stared at it, the crescent moon marking on her forehead began to glow, and a soft gold beam struck the medal. Almost immediately, the medal reflected the beam into several smaller beams that landed on the girls' foreheads.

Serena could see her reawakening memories right before her eyes.

**-xXXXXx-**

"I have to, Serena," Casto explained to Princess Serena. They were in the Moon Kingdom, within a large hangar of some sorts. "I can't take this anymore. All of this stuff about peace. It's not what they said. I've yet to see it."

"You still haven't told me what happened that caused you to feel it necessary to leave me, though. Please, Casto, I can make it better."

Casto, in a cloud-white buttoned shirt with matching pants and shoes, walked over to a large two-man shuttle craft that was double his size and was a bit longer than a propeller aircraft. He slid open the door and put a large black box that he was carrying behind one of the black leather chairs inside the cockpit.

"I don't think you could, sis. I don't think anyone could."

"You've seen things I haven't seen, then. My mother has only shown me the confines of the palace. You know that, Casto."

Casto turned around to face his sister again after a deep sigh. "Then make her take you to the city. You'll definitely witness it. It's not what you're seeing, and surely a far cry from what you believe to know."

"I wish I could, but she said it would be dangerous because of all the civil fighting going on in the streets right now."

"So she even admits this peace isn't what she says it is!"

"But it is, Casto! I don't know where you've traveled, but where I am taken, so many people appreciate me and our mother. I know she is loved all over the Moon."

Casto put his hands on Serena's shoulders. "Listen, I don't know if I should even tell you of the things I've seen. You've lived such a better life here than I have. I've hardly even knew our mother. Maybe you've seen a much brighter side. It's probably good news for this Kingdom that they have a princess such as yourself. You're always loyal to your loved ones, no matter what, even when they've done the worst things imaginable. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me for leaving."

"You have me in your heart, in your blood. I'll pray that the stars protect you to wherever you decide to go. Most importantly, I..." Serena paused, trying to be princess-like, but found that it was difficult as her eyes watered, "I'll always, _always_ love you, bro."

"Same here, sis," Casto said, eyes getting teary themselves. "Whatever you do, don't ever change. You are who you are for a reason. You will be the Moon Kingdom's queen someday, and you will be able to make your own decisions, and your own judgment calls. The Moon Kingdom has one of its best princesses in history. I'm going to miss you, so much."

"Casto, I've never seen you cry before. Please, it's hard enough to see you go as it is."

"I...I can't help it, Serena. If it wasn't for you, I would've been gone a long time ago. You're the only one I feel like I can trust."

Serena answered by pulling Casto into a tight hug, not wanting to let go. She let her tears flow, some of them falling and hitting his shoulder. Casto returned the soft embrace. Both of them felt sheer comfort in being in the arms of the other, the family bond between the two stronger than ever at that moment.

"Serena, I'm sorry, I do have to go before anyone sees what happened." Casto, very reluctantly and slowly, let Serena go, but still held to her hands gently.

"I'll always be here if you need someone. I'll never, ever turn my back to you. I love you."

"Serena, I...I love you, as well. I won't ever forget you."

The two kissed each other on the cheek, and shared another quick embrace before Casto stepped into the shuttle. The door closed, and the engine was fired up. With Serena hearing nothing except the roar of the engine, she could only watch as Casto began to launch for the freedom of space. Soon, the shuttle left the hangar and sped off into the stars, Serena not taking her eyes off of the shuttle as it was leaving until she could no longer see it anymore.

"Casto, why? Why do you have to leave?" Serena collapsed to her knees, clenching her fist and pounding the floor as hard as she could while shedding her tears. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

She could not hear her mother coming into the hangar shortly thereafter, still pounding the floor hard while swearing. As soon as Serenity heard it, she ran as fast as she could over to her daughter.

"_Serena_!" Serenity yelled. "What's going on? Why the tears, why the swearing? I thought I told you royalty should never use those words!"

"Casto's gone!"

"What?"

"Left because of him not seeing the Silver Millennium the same way we all did. Damn it, it's not fair!"

"Hey now," Serenity responded, kneeling down next to Serena, "calm down. Come on, sweetie, let's get back inside. We can talk some more in there."

Serenity gently helped Serena back to her feet, keeping her arm around her daughter as she led her back into the confines of the kingdom, closing both the hangar door and the entrance door behind them.

**-xXXXXx-**

For the rest of the girls, the memories were being awakened in such a way that they knew that they were real. They were not as painful as Serena's were, but they weren't all pleasurable memories, either. There were a few nice memories amongst the group, though. Lita, for instance, remembered visiting the Moon several times and being a fan of Casto's fighting skills. She started learning how to fight because of his influence, even though she took on a much different style that he used. Raye had a small crush on him and visited him often to try to win his heart, though he never noticed her actions as flirtatious. Amy always saw him visit the Mercury Kingdom, seeing their high tech gadgets that they used, some of which were never realized by anyone else even in the present time. He was forever memorized by the technology that surpassed even the Moon Kingdom's Eternity Main System..

A minute later, Casto stood up and looked around the Shrine room, seeing that the girls had their eyes closed. All of them had accepted their memories.

"Luna, that's enough," Casto said. "They should be reawakened by now. It will take them a few moments to wake up."

Luna responded by ceasing her beam, the ricochets doing the same afterwards. She could only stare at the medal. "So that's how I remember you."

"What do you mean?" Casto asked.

Luna then turned around to face Casto. "That process restored some of my memory, as well. I was hearing something about one of the ships departing, and heard that Serena didn't leave her room for a good two days. I couldn't make out why, but I heard it was something about a family member departing. It was like she experienced a death in the family."

"She might as well have had someone die."

"But Casto, how did you not forget who you were?"

"That's a long story. When the rest of the Sailors reawaken, I'll explain that part."

"What are you talking about when, bro?" they heard Serena ask. Casto looked up to see the girls opening their eyes.

"Damn, that was quick!" Casto exclaimed. "I thought it would take a bit longer than a minute. Are all of you alright?"

"Yeah," Mina answered. "Kinda tickled there for a moment, and then I remembered you visiting the Venus Kingdom one time. You were a wild one, let me tell you. You would ignore any rule the Kingdom put in place, as long as whoever you needed to help was rescued. The royalty hated you for breaking their rules, but they loved that you kept things interesting for them"

"So, Casto," Lita asked, "we all needed our memories resurfaced, but how is it that you never got your memory erased?"

"Actually," Casto said, sitting back down, "it's not as far fetched as it may seem. Two years after I left the Moon Kingdom, I received word that something, or someone, was going to attack the Moon Kingdom. I didn't know what it was, but the description was an entity that intended on causing heartache within the entire Universe."

"That would be Queen Beryl," Artemis answered.

"In truth, that wasn't the name I was given. There was another I was hearing about. Someone that had done that sort of thing before. Believe me, the powers Beryl had paled in comparison to the powers this being possessed, though I heard that it teamed up with Beryl. Not sure how it happened. The Moon Kingdom was the target. I knew why Beryl would target it, but I didn't know why the other thing decided to agree to it. Maybe it was the other way around, I don't know."

"I think you're describing that black cloud we saw," Luna responded.

"Can't remember the name that it was given, but all I know is that I got into that shuttle and began my trip back from Pluto as fast as I could. The worm holes were closed in anticipation of a possible attack, they didn't want whatever it was to be able to use them to get direct access to their own kingdoms. But it was too late when I got there. It had already begun. That black cloud you talked about saw my shuttle. I did see Beryl there, attacking everyone, my sister, my family, but it was that damn cloud that I was focused on. I couldn't do anything about what was going on because that entity knew I was there and made a swipe at the shuttle. I began a dive down to Earth, and though I tried as hard as I could to get that thing back on track, it proved useless. It's a miracle that I survived all of it.

"Sometimes I wondered if I was actually dead and my soul was just not at rest. I crash landed in the U.S., in Los Angeles, California. For quite a few years, I believed all of you to be dead. However, a school friend of mine who did the same foreign exchange program that I'm in now came and told me the description of a young girl who was completely eccentric and had weird-looking hair and all of that, the pony tails with the huge odangos on her head. I knew of only one person that could fit that description, and that was you, Serena. For several months after, I was convinced that you were alive, and I did everything I could to get enrolled in that foreign exchange program. I learned of where you went to school, what classes you took, everything. You could say I was somewhat stalking you, but it was necessary to get into contact with you so I could set the memories free again. I thought all of you were like me, at first: remembering all the details but just didn't know where anyone was at."

"So you're one of the lucky ones to know what happened," Lita answered. "Can't imagine anyone being able to survive that. Listen, Casto...I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was this deep of a story. Shouldn't have had those violent..."

"No, don't worry about it, you're fine. Even I'm not that privy to every detail, like how you all survived all that ordeal. Though, there is one other detail to all of this. It was about the cloud. It seems as though there was a humanoid side to it, as if it had a human form at some point in the past."

"Maybe Beryl was controlling her and made that thing believe it controlled Beryl," Amy answered.

"No, that thing was definitely in the driver's seat. Yeah, and about Beryl, there was something...not right about all of that. When I was falling to the Earth below, I could've sworn I..."

Casto got interrupted by a loud beep. Actually, it was a series of beeps. Though Casto didn't know where they were coming from, Serena knew exactly what it was: her communicator. The fright she got when hearing it, due to her knowing that only one other person now possessed one of those and she knew she told that person to contact her if anything went wrong, was without a rival.

"The hell's that?" Casto asked.

"Oh, my God!" Serena rushed to her communicator which was on a dresser right by the phone. Frantically, she picked it up and turned it on. Darien was on the other end, in a panic.

"Serena, I just heard the security team say that something was just spotted near the hospital and that they had to go take care of it. The description that was..." Darien was interrupted by loud crashes and gunshots in the background.

"_No_!" Serena screamed. "Darien, say something. What the hell's going on?"

"It's him, Serena! Rubeus is here, at the hospital! He's demanding to know where your family is! I can't transform here, I'm going to have to confront..."

"Oh, Darien! You should _know_ where her family is, jerk!" That was definitely Rubeus' voice, Serena knew. However, she heard a hit, a thud, and the video feed on the communicator showed a sudden drop of the camera to the ground, meaning that Darien had dropped the communicator. Some fighting followed by a loud crash of glass breaking was heard, and then, Serena worst fears were realized: Rubeus picked up the communicator.

"Oh, Serena, or should I say, _Sailor Moon_!"

"Rubeus, so help me, you even _touch_ them..."

"Oh, so you really _don't _care that I just smashed your boy toy's head into shards of glass. Some girlfriend _you_ are!"

"Oh, I care, you sick piece of sh.."

"What did I tell you about your language, girly? Teens aren't supposed to swear! I'll tell you what: I'll, well, let your family live, but on one condition. Bring that freak Casto with you. Bring his other self, whatever the hell that Vulture thing is! He's got something I want: The Hizrounswa. Said to be under control of shadow power, and that power he has, it's perfect for that thing to be hiding with."

"The _what_?" Casto yelled.

"The Hizrounswa. Don't play dumb, Casto! You know _damn_ well you hold that thing, and you know what it is! You got thirty minutes to bring me Casto, and that crystal, as yourselves, no Sailor powers at all. You come as Serena, not as Sailor Moon. If you don't do that exactly as I said, then not only will I finish what I started with Sammy and daddy, but lookie what else I decided to pick up along the way!" Rubeus then dragged something into view. He was nearly strangling someone, and it made Serena fume: her mother. Serena could not contain her anger upon seeing Ikuko struggle and fight to get the madman off of her. Rubeus had already laid his hands on Serena's family once more. Her mother was in tears, scared for her life.

"Serena, just do as he says," Ikuko cried. "Just tell him to give up whatever he has. It's not worth it to..."

"Shut the hell up, you _bitch_!" Rubeus screamed before punching her square in the lower gut, making Ikuko clutch her stomach in sheer pain and give a loud yelp. Serena gasped in sheer horror upon seeing that disgusting scene.

"Half hour Serena, _or your family dies_! Slowly, and painfully!" The feed went out afterwards. Serena could only respond to all of that in one way: Chucking the communicator all the way towards the other end of the room as hard as she could, crying and screaming.

"That sick.." Amy said, unable to finish her sentence.

"I don't have that thing, I swear on my soul," Casto said.

"You sure, Casto?" Serena yelled. "He has my family, he won't think twice before he goes through with his intentions!"

"I don't. I think I've heard of something with that name before, though. I don't know much else than rumors about it."

"Regardless," Raye responded, "Rubeus has no right to threaten anyone like that. He's gone too far this time! Seeing him punching...my God!"

"I don't care who else comes with me," Serena proclaimed, "but I'm going! It's time I ended this, once and for all!"

"This time, girl," Raye answered, "I'm in! I've seen enough of this sick bastard! It's time we all take him out."

"Agreed," Amy added. "He wants to harm a defenseless woman like that? Let's see how he does with women that are ready for him!"

"Yeah, that was too low for words," Mina responded. "And Darien, is he going to be alright? He said he smashed his head into..."

"I don't want to even think about that part," Serena said. "I heard it, alright. He wants a fight."

"Yeah, and I'll give him one, too," Lita exclaimed. "_That's _the person who should have his teeth kicked down his damn throat!"

"We're all with you, Serena," Artemis responded. "Let's all show Rubeus what we're made of..."

"Hold on!" Casto cut in.

"What is it, bro?"

Casto walked over to Serena, picking up his medal beforehand. "I'm going, too! It's me that he wants! I'm not about to just let you girls go in there without the first thing he asked for!"

"But Casto," Serena rejected "I was planning on you coming in later to surprise him."

"It's too risky to do things that way! Besides, I want to be a part of your group! I don't want to watch on the sidelines waiting to come in only when you guys are in danger!"

"You mean to tell me you want to be one of us?" Lita asked.

"I don't want to be known as just the Vulture. From here on in, I would like to be known as..._Sailor_ Vulture!"

"Casto?" Luna asked.

"But only if you approve."

The girls looked at each other, but with reassuring smiles on all of their faces.

"I'm fine with it, if it's alright with you, Serena," Artemis said.

"Casto," Serena began, "I..I don't know what to say. I could also see us always being what the other could not be for them. I was always the person you came to when you needed to cry, and I always came to you when I needed someone to tell me it was alright to show anger. I need you to give me that strength once more. I would love to have you by my side..._bro_!"

Serena and Casto both clasped their hands together before entering a tight embrace.

"Thank you, baby sis! You don't know how much it means to have you remember me!"

The two then broke off the embrace, Casto looking towards the rest of the group. "Now, I think I speak for all of us when I say, let's go kick his ass!"

"Alright!" the rest of the girls chanted in full agreement.

**-xXXXXx-**

"Ten minutes left," Rubeus said as he continued to hold Ikuko by the neck. Ikuko had been nearly knocked out by that punch to the lower gut by Rubeus earlier, and if Serena only knew that he felt the need to commit to another punch in the same area. Darien could hardly move at all, just now waking up from him being knocked out by the broken glass. Darien was one lucky man: he only got knocked out, with few scars on his face, one of which let some blood flow freely.

"Why us?" Ikuko fought to say. "Why torture us? She has nothing to do with you!"

"Because she is Sailor Moon! You didn't see the thing that her boy toy was using to call her with to warn her that I was coming? I'm surprised Sammy's still alive with you as his mother! You're really as stupid as you look!"

Rubeus then shoved her away, and she colliding hard with the wall before falling face-first into the floor.

"C'mon, man," Darien tried to say though extremely groggy. "There's no...reason to abuse her like that."

"Shut up, boy toy! Oh yeah, that's right! The mighty Tuxedo Mask, reduced to being knocked out by simple glass! Funny how someone that's supposed to be so powerful is reduced to being taken out so easily, and the worst thing is that your girlfriend doesn't care about you anymore! No matter, though, because she'll show up! I got a pretty little woman known as her mother that she'll definitely show her face for!" He then pulled on Ikuko's hair to lift her up back to her feet before pulling back on it, making her scream out, tears flowing.

"Please, stop!" Ikuko cried. "I've got money, I've got some jewelry, I'll give you anything you want! Just please, for the love of God, leave us alone!"

"What I want is something only your daughter can give to me! And what I want is nothing more than to see your pretty face dead along with the rest..."

"I'm here!" growled a very familiar voice from behind Rubeus. Immediately, Rubeus spun around with Ikuko still being held by her neck.

"Ah, so you do show yourself, Serena!"

"Let her go, Rubeus!" Serena hissed, her body perfectly straight, her hands at her sides and clenched into tight, trembling fists. She swore on her life that she had never been this angry before, ever.

"Where's that kid that was with you...?"

"I said, let. Her. _Go_!"

"Not until you show Casto!"

"I'm here, Rubeus," Casto yelled, coming to Serena's side and staring at her mother. "Let her go! Your fight is with us, not her! She got nothing to do with this!"

"Oh, but she has everything to do with miss Sailor Moon over there! Ikuko, look at your daughter, and then think of Sailor Moon. Strange coincidence that they have the same hairstyle, isn't it?"

"You little..."

"Little what, Serena? Huh? You want to say something about it?"

"You do anything to her, we'll all crack your skull," Rubeus heard another girl say, which was Lita as she came into his sight along with Amy, Mina, and Raye. Luna and Artemis showed up soon after, flanking either side of the group.

"So, you all decide to give me an audience! Now, Casto, the Hizrounswa! Give it to me! Now!"

"I don't possess it, Rubeus! Get that through your head! I'm not trying to deceive you!" Casto stepped forward slightly, enough for Rubeus to be aware of the action. That was all the provocation he needed: he put a hand right near Ikuko's heart and a bright yellow light flashed. Within seconds, Ikuko screamed in pain, her back arching frighteningly. She would've went down on her knees if it wasn't for Rubeus still holding onto her.

"MOVE ANYMORE AND SHE'S GETTING IT RIGHT AT HER HEART! I swear I'll kill this pretty little thing if you even think of trying anything heroic!"

"You sick son of a bitch!" Raye growled.

However, unbeknownst to Rubeus, Darien had a backup plan. He very slowly and quietly took out a single red rose from his coat pocket. He looked to the girls, and Serena moved her eyes just enough to catch Darien put a finger at his mouth to tell her not to say or do anything to tip Rubeus off about Darien's would-be insurgence.

Rubeus did not notice, and continued his demands. "Now, about the Hizrounswa, Casto! You must know where it is! You're the only one in your group that has the type of powers you possess! Sort of like the powers your former enemies had! You want to be allies with these girls when they know you possess the same element of powers that Queen Beryl possessed, that the Dark Phantom possessed, that I possess?"

"It's not the power in of itself that makes it evil," Casto responded, "but how the person that wields it chooses to put it to use! Yes, I possess the shadow power, but I use it for good! I use it to help others! I don't use it to harm innocent bystanders like you do!"

"She isn't just an innocent bystander! She's helping you hide that damn crystal from me, Casto! You have ten seconds to hand it to me, or she's dead! If you try anything sneaky, she dies!"

"I! Don't! Have! It!"

"Five! FOUR! _THREE!_" It was then that Rubeus fired up the same type of power once more, this time aimed right at her heart. There was no way Ikuko could survive all of this, and Rubeus was going to get either the Hizrounswa or one of Serena's family members dead.

"You don't know what you're doing, Rubeus!" Amy yelled.

"TWO!"

"Good God, Rubeus, don't do this!" Mina screamed, hoping that something would sink into his head and cause him to think a bit better of himself and not kill this woman.

"ONE!"

It was then that he began to fire his beam. However, just as he was about to do so, a sharp pain hit his neck, and his beam hit nothing but the ground as Ikuko fell to her knees. Rubeus looked over to see that Darien had thrown his rose just in the nick of time.

"Mom, get out of here, now!" Serena yelled. Ikuko wasn't about to think twice about doing that, as she fought herself up to her feet and began to run for her life. However, before any of the girls could react, Rubeus fired a quick beam right to Ikuko's leg before she was able to exit the hospital. She went down instantly, holding her leg in pain where Rubeus got her.

"You're not getting away that easily, you dumb bimbo!" Rubeus then got her right back, but then disappeared with her in tow. "You want her, come to Juuban Park! I'll be waiting for you!"

"Damn it!" Serena yelled. She then rushed to Darien, trying to help him get up off the floor where the broken glass was. "C'mon, Darien, let's get you out of all this crap!" Darien did not object as Serena helped him back up to his feet and into one of the leather chairs within the lobby.

"What happened?" Doctor Mesta asked as he came out of hiding just at that moment. "Sorry, I wasn't about to challenge that guy and put your mother at anymore risk. I tried calling the police but the phones were jammed. He must've done that before getting here."

"Juuban Park is where he said he was going," Serena announced.

"No telling what he's got planned for her," Darien responded. "You have to get there, now!"

"Agreed! Oh and about what he said about me not caring..."

"No, Serena, I know why you made the decision you did. Don't worry about me or about us. Serena, I love you, and I'd protect them even if you didn't ask me. There as much of my family as they are yours."

"Thanks, Darien!"

"I'll make sure he gets patched up," Doctor Mesta continued. "By the looks of things, luck has really been on your side. That hit he took could've killed a normal man."

"He does that all the time, always finding ways to deny death," Serena replied before turning to Darien. "Okay, I'll be back here!" She then headed out the door for Juuban Park, the girls all following. However, Casto took a bit of time to check up on Darien.

"Who are you?" Darien asked, trying to ignore his pain.

"Name's Casto Sommers. I'm Serena's brother from the Moon."

"Didn't know she had a brother."

"Neither did she at first. Listen, I'll explain everything to you later, but I want you to know something about your girlfriend: She's one of the most loyal people ever. She's not going to leave you, not for one second."

"Why do you say...?"

"She was scared that she hasn't been herself lately, hasn't been there for you, and thought that you were getting angry with her possibly ignoring you."

"She doesn't have to be! I would never leave her over something like that, especially when she's got so much on her mind, especially in this situation. I love her, and that's all there is..."

"The hell?" Casto interrupted as he spotted something on the ground right where Rubeus first stood, Darien looking in the same direction to see the same thing. It was a piece of paper. No, more than that. It was a page from a book, or a magazine. As Casto picked it up, he found out that it was actually two pages. No, three. The first was the phone book page that Rubeus found the Sommers' address in.

"That's how he found out where she lived," Casto said as he showed Darien the page. He looked at the two other pages. They weren't phone book pages, but rather the pages from the crystal book that Rubeus found, though Casto didn't know where they came from nor did he care. The writing on the two pages spoke of a crystal formed of the black arts that could implode someone's magic from within. The name of the crystal? The Hizrounswa!

"Oh, my God! So _that's_ why he thinks I have this thing! I don't blame him for thinking it now!" He then showed Darien the pages, and he was shocked.

"I've heard of this crystal before! Casto, if he really knows that this thing exists, then we're in grave danger. Get over there, Casto! You have information about what this thing is. I'll get a copy of these and give them to you. No matter what the cost, we cannot let Rubeus find the Hizrounswa or get a hold of it."

"Sounds scary!"

"You have no idea! I know a good bit about the legend of this crystal, and then some! But Serena needs you right now! Go!"

Casto did not object, and he completely agreed with Darien on that point. He needed to get to Juuban Park, and fast. He exited the hospital in haste, hoping to get there before anything bad happened.

Darien looked to the door at first, and then stared up at the ceiling. "My God, I hope I'm wrong."

**-xXXXXx-**

"Don't worry, my pet," Rubeus said to his frightened prize. "Your daughter will be here soon! Trust me, you'll be able to see her one last time!"

"Don't do this, you creep!" Ikuko yelled. "She isn't who you think she is! She isn't Sailor Moon!"

"Oh yes, she is, and I'm surprised that you haven't grounded her for life for hiding that secret from her! Not that I would let both of you live long enough to have that happen!"

"Even if she was, I would never do that, especially after what she's done to take you out!"

The distraction from his preaching gave Ikuko an opening, and it was all she needed as she elbowed Rubeus in the gut. It was enough to get Rubeus to lose his grip on her, and she began to run for her life once more, but her leg hampered her from running fast enough, as Rubeus caught her a third time.

"I should punch you again for what you just did, but I'll instead just go right for your heart!" Rubeus intended to finish what he started with her back at the hospital.

"No more!" Rubeus heard Serena scream.

"Serena!" Ikuko yelled.

"See, I knew she would show! Serena, how about this? If you win, she lives, if not, she dies!" Rubeus slammed Ikuko's back against a large tree, lifting her a few inches off the ground, and put a hand on her stomach, making a few beams come out to bind her to the tree, keeping her completely immobilized. "There, now we can fight!"

"I'd rather die than to see you kill her!"

_'Serena, don't! Don't say that!'_ Ikuko thought.

"Nah, I'd just kill both of you at the same time! Maybe you can share the afterlife together! Maybe then you'll tell her the _truth_!"

Rubeus fired a barrage of quick beams at Serena. She did her best to dodge them, even though she didn't have any counter without her Sailor Moon powers. He continued to shoot them rapidly, and Serena's only defense was to stand behind the tree to the left of the one Ikuko had been tied to.

"Ha! Look at your daughter, mommy!" Rubeus yelled, unaware of the fact that the other girls and the cats had arrived to try to surprise him. "Look at her hiding, like the cry baby she is! Go ahead, cry! Cry like the coward you are! Show your mother that you would rather run away than to save her! She isn't as important to you as you said she was! Guess you're not only a cry baby, but a pathetic liar!"

Raye was shedding tears, trying to hold herself back. _'No, Rubeus, she isn't! I told you before, she's the bravest person I know! She's putting her life on the line for her, she's defenseless, and you have the nerve to say anything like that.'_

Serena quickly ran to where Ikuko was, and stood in front of her. "Rubeus, you dare tell me that I would run away from the likes of you, especially when you have abused, harassed, and decimated my family just to get my damn attention? You got some nerve!"

"Oh, but you run away every time I fire at you! Is that proof enough? Oh, wait, I know how to prove it!" He then readied a double-shot beam that, if it didn't hit Serena, would hit her mother. Either way, it would hit directly. "Let's see what you decide to do with this, Serena!" He released the energy.

"No fair!" Raye yelled. "He's forcing her to choose!"

"Please," Lita yelled, "this cannot be happening!"

However, Serena stayed firmly planted on both feet, refusing to move, and the beams hit her square on the chest. She fell backwards right on the tree, below Ikuko's raised feet. Serena was not moving at all after the blast.

"_SERENA!_" Ikuko screamed, crying profusely.

"No! Oh, my God, no!" Raye cried.

"Is she...?" Mina gasped.

"She said she would..." Amy added, also in tears.

"Wow! I never expected that! She decided to die quick and painlessly!" Rubeus then laughed hysterically.

"Please! Why her? Why did you...?"

"No, mom, he...he didn't kill me," Serena said, coughing and fighting to get back to her feet, but still conscious.

"Oh, thank God!" Raye sighed.

"So I'm right! You freaks can't just die, can you? No matter! Time for another decision maker!" Rubeus then began to fire up just another double-shot beam. However, this time Serena had enough. One way or another, this was it. She had to make a decision, alright. Unfortunately for Rubeus, he didn't know that there was a third option, which was the one Serena was about to choose, no matter the consequence.

"Mother," Serena said, "promise me something."

"Anything," Ikuko answered through her pain.

"Do not tell anyone about what you're about to see. Do not be afraid at what I'm about to do! I promise you, I did not intend to hide anything from you or deceive you! I'm very sorry! Just promise you won't share what I'm about to do with anyone!"

"Y-Yeah, I promise, but what are you..." Ikuko said, all before gasping, realizing what her daughter had been accused of being by Rubeus earlier. This was confirmed by Serena grabbing her Moon Locket.

"S-She's going to...in front of her," Artemis gasped.

"I think it's time she knew, anyway," Luna responded.

"I'm not objecting, but I'm worried what her mother might think once it's out."

Rubeus was as shocked as anyone else was that she just grabbed it. "What's this?"

With all of her voice empowering her words, Serena had picked the third option: "MOON, CRYSTAL, POWER! **MAKE UP!"**

Ikuko's jaw dropped when she heard those words. ""Serena, my Serena! But how?" She saw Serena don the red knee high boots, crescent moon earrings, gold tiara, long white gloves, and the while and blue sailor uniform. Within seconds, her transformation was complete.

"H-He was right," Ikuko gasped. "You _are_ Sailor Moon!"

"Don't worry, mom! Everything will be alright! I've longed for the day that I didn't have to hide it from you anymore!"

"So you finally told the truth for once in your pathetic life!" Rubeus yelled.

"Serena," Ikuko growled, "get him!"

Rubeus fired his double-shot beam once more, but now Sailor Moon was ready for it. Moon took her Tiara and threw it against the ground, the strength from it blasting the shots back at Rubeus. He was barely able to dodge the boomeranged beams as Moon retrieved her Tiara. Rubeus began to fire his beams resembling machine guns once again, and like before, Moon had to run to dodge them. This time, she was doing so with her Tiara in hand, powering it up.

"Moon, tiara! Magic!" Serena yelled, the Tiara striking Rubeus in the chest cavity and knocking him down off his vertical base. As he tried to get back to his feet, Moon ran to him, kicking him in the ribs as hard as she could-twice-making him roll on the ground a few times. "_That's _for my family!"

"And this is for me!" Rubeus yelled before shooting Moon in the stomach with a beam. It sent her reeling back a little, and Rubeus saw this as an opening. He got back to his feet and punched her right in the gut, making her kneel in pain.

"Yeah, that's it! Beg for mercy, Serena! Beg for me not to kill your pathetic excuse for a mother right now!"

"I don't beg, Rubeus!" Moon then punched Rubeus, right below the belt. Sheer pain shot throughout Rubeus' body as he fell backwards, trying to console the pain.

"That," Moon growled, "is for Sammy!" She walked to Rubeus and stomped her foot down onto Rubeus' chest, pinning him down with it while looking down at him. "Now you know that you don't mess with my family! You mess with them, you deal with me! I don't care if the whole world knows who I am, or about my life, as long as they are safe! You are a pathetic roach!" Serena then put her foot right onto Rubeus' neck and began to choke him. "Either you promise never to mess with them again, or I make you lose every ounce of breath you have. Promise me or die! Slowly, and painfully!"

_'No, Serena,'_ Ikuko thought._ 'He's not worth it!'_

"What's she doing?" Lita gasped. "This is definitely not like her!"

"She never wanted to kill someone else before, has she?" Mina asked, looking at the others.

"Not in such a serious sense as she is right now, and for sure not the way she's intending" Luna answered. "Please, Serena! Just get Ikuko out of there."

"What is it, Rubeus?" Moon yelled as she heard Rubeus begin to choke. "You can dish out ultimatums but you can't take them? Is that it?"

"It's only that you are just as much of a flake as you've always been!" Rubeus grabbed Moon's ankle and twisted it off of him, letting him get back up.

As Moon was fighting to get back to her feet, Rubeus raced to Ikuko, got her out of her binds, and disappeared with her. The rest of the group were just as shocked as Serena was that Rubeus took her again.

However, Rubeus' voice could still be heard. "Serena, I had another thought! I don't want to kill her! Not yet, anyway! This hot number could prove useful yet! Don't worry, Serena, I won't hurt her, too much! Bring the Hizrounswa to me, and you may see her still alive! I cannot guarantee her survival, though! If you really care about your mother, you will do this for me! If not, then you revealing the truth to her will be for nothing! So long, freaks!"

"Rubeus!" Serena yelled. She got no answer. "You coward! Fight me! Come out and fight me!" She began punching a tree out of sheer anger, not caring what she was doing at this point, crying and screaming profanities as she continued to battle the inanimate object. "Where are you, Rubeus!"

"No, Serena!" Lita yelled. "She going off the deep end! C'mon!"

The girls all rushed over to try to calm Serena down, Lita grabbing her from behind and pinning her to the tree, though Serena was trying as hard as she could to break free.

"Let me go, Lita!" Serena yelled. "None of you know anything about what I'm going through!"

"Yes we do," Raye yelled back. "We know all about what you're going through!"

Serena finally fought Lita's arms off of her as she ran a few feet and then turned to face the others. "No, you don't! No one can understand! None of you have ever had such a madman taking your entire family and trying to tear them apart, or someone leaving you, or losing a loved one! No one can possibly understand!"

"But I do, sis!" Serena heard Casto say, turning her head to see Casto running over towards her.

"No, Casto! You can't possibly...!"

"Yes, I know how it felt to be separated from you!"

"Wha..?"

"God, Serena, if you had any idea how much guilt I took with me over how I just left you! I felt like I was the biggest damn coward there ever was! I hated myself, and I felt like I let you down! I didn't want to come back to all the drama I was going through with the many people there. I was halfway using the news about the attack by the Dark Kingdom as an excuse to need to come back, because I missed you, so much, though I never got to see you before I began my decent onto Earth."

He then approached Serena, who had calmed down and just let her arms hang at her sides. Putting his hands on her shoulders, Casto continued, "Serena, I know a lot about what you're going through. You're right that no one knows how you feel about having a madman try as hard as he can to turn your lives upside down, but I do know that I felt that my family was torn apart, and that I was the madman!"

"Casto, I—I didn't know you felt like that," Serena answered.

Casto then put his arms around his sister, Serena refusing to budge though welcoming the warmth of the embrace. She tried to not cry once more, but knew that was impossible, and so she let her tears fall.

"Yeah, Serena," Mina added, "I don't know if I could ever imagine what it must feel like to be put through this, but we're all behind you one hundred percent!"

Amy nodded in agreement. "No one should have to know what losing a family member is like, especially when they are as close to one another as you are to your family."

"I'm sorry," Serena sighed. "I wouldn't dare wish this on anyone. I'm just so angry and so confused. I've never felt like this before. I just want to kill him."

"Well," Luna answered, "if there is any good news out of this right now, it's that if Rubeus doesn't have his bargaining chip, then he has no way to make us fetch this crystal that he wants us to get. As long as he needs her, he won't kill Ikuko, so she'll be alive for now. She's a lot tougher than I feel he knows, too. Anything that Rubeus tries to throw at her, she will more than likely be ready for."

"He'll keep her alive as long as this Hizrounswa thing is still out there," Artemis added.

Casto broke off the embrace halfway, still with an arm around his sister, to face the group. "Actually, we may want to make sure that he doesn't get his hands on it, from what I heard Darien say about it! Something about the crystal being highly dangerous or something!"

"Does he know anything about this crystal?" Raye asked.

"He says he does! Rubeus dropped a few pages of books at the hospital. I assume he lost them when he was hit by Darien's rose. One was a phone book page, which was what he used to find out where Serena and her family lived. The other two were pages from some book, and it described the Hizrounswa."

"We need that information," Luna answered. "Where are those pages now?"

"I left them with Darien before I came to find you."

"Alright," Serena said, "maybe this whole thing has to do with whatever that crystal is, and that's the key to getting us out of this mess." The others nodded in agreement before heading back to the hospital.

**-xXXXXx-**

Doctor Mesta anticipated Serena's return to the hospital, awaiting at the desk as the girls returned at nightfall.

"Were you able to get her back?" the doctor asked.

Serena sighed and hung her head. "No, she's been abducted by Rubeus! There-wasn't much we could do about it!"

"My God! Can't believe this! It's been blow after blow for you, Serena!"

"Every time we think we got over one thing," Raye added, "he does something else that completely throws us for another loop! We wonder if this torture is ever going to stop!"

The doctor nodded. "Well, I figure you could use some good news out of all of this. Sammy's still unconscious, but he's into stable condition, and we believe that he'll make a full recovery."

This news was indeed music to Serena's ears. "Oh, thank God!"

"Now, I can't say he's out of the ICU yet. I don't want to take any chances. Going to give it one more day just in case something were to go wrong. But all willing he should be into a normal hospital room by the end of the day tomorrow."

"I think I'll take it after everything we've gone through." Serena then began looking for her boyfriend. "Where's Darien?"

"Oh, he went into the cafeteria. I was patching his wounds up earlier. I guess he's fine, because he refused my recommendation to have a few test runs to make sure those wounds weren't deeper than we thought."

"Yeah," Raye answered. "He's like that. More stubborn than Sammy."

"Well, he told me to tell you that he wants to talk to you when you return, although he doesn't know of Sammy's improved condition. The cafeteria is just down the hall here, to your right."

"Thanks, doc," Serena answered.

**-xXXXXx-**

Darien stood up as the girls and Casto entered the dimly-lit cafeteria. He was sitting at the round table in the center, the brown-cushioned chairs matching the plain brown wallpaper. There were more lights that could be turned on, but no one came into that room at that time of night, so there was no need to turn them on, unless someone came in looking for a snack.

"Serena, you alright?" Darien asked, worried about what happened earlier.

"He's got her. Took off once things were getting difficult for him. Though the doctor had some good news: Sammy will more than likely be out of the ICU tomorrow."

"That's good news, alright," Darien said as he smiled. "Though I don't think it will be enough to offset what I've read."

"You read those pages on the Hizrounswa?" Casto asked.

"Yeah. C'mon, have a seat. I think you might need one once you hear about this."

The others followed Darien's command to the letter, each taking a seat close enough that they could hear him. Casto sat on one of the benches near the wall, arm resting on the top of the couch-like bench.

Darien remained standing, beginning to pace around the cafeteria. "I studied everything that you've given me, Casto. But there is something else that I learned about this crystal, and it confirms everything that these notes have said. Basically put, if Rubeus is allowed to get a hold of this crystal, then..." Darien stopped talking.

"Darien?" Luna asked.

Darien stopped pacing and turned around. "Then he can kill every last one of us with one shot!"


	4. The Hizrounswa

BLINDED BY REVENGE  
CHAPTER 4  
The Hizrounswa

Written by Darkpower  
Rating: 14 (Dialogue, Violence, Language)

Once more, the way to pronounce "Hizrounswa" is "HIS-ROW-NAS-WA".

* * *

Darien had shocked the Sailor girls as well as Casto when he spoke of a fabled shadow crystal only known as the Hizrounswa. "Basically put, if Rubeus is allowed to get a hold of this crystal, then he can kill every last one of us with one shot!"

"Well, whatever Rubeus might be able to throw at us," Artemis proclaimed, "I think we will be ready for him!"

"Right!" the rest of them agreed.

All of them, that is, except Darien. "You don't understand. This is something that's unlike anything that we've ever faced before. This is the most dangerous crystal that I've ever heard about in my life. Trust me, you have no idea what we're dealing with here. We cannot let Rubeus obtain that crystal."

Casto stood up and looked right into Darien's eyes. "Wait a sec, man. Those pages are only saying what's in the fables about the crystal, and talking about magical powers being imploded from within or something like that. We don't really know if that spells bad news for anyone or not. We don't even know if this thing exists or not."

"On the contrary," Darien responded. "It does, and it's buried somewhere in this world!"

"How do you know anything about this, Darien?" Raye asked. "You seem to know an awful lot more than that booked talked about. How are you so knowledgeable about this?"

Darien sighed, knowing that what he would say next might surprise a few of the people he was talking to, for more than one reason. "Serena, I don't think I even mentioned this to you or to anyone else, but I did retain some memory of being under Queen Beryl's mind control."

"_What_?" Serena gasped. "How much?"

"You mean to tell me that you were once under her spell?" Casto asked, as he was obviously not present during that time.

"Yes, Casto. I wasn't aware where I got these memories from at first, but once I was realigned with my memories of the past, I remembered hearing about this crystal. One of the things that I was ordered to do, amongst everything else, was to keep an eye out for a specific crystal that had evil properties. I asked what it was, and that's when I was told of its name and the powers it possessed. If the Dark Kingdom knew about the Hizrounswa and needed it, you know that's not good news if they get it. And now I saw this book which only confirmed my suspicions."

"So Queen Beryl also knew about this crystal, yet we didn't," Luna responded. "All this time she could've had our number and we would've never known."

"Actually, Luna, it wasn't Queen Beryl who told me about it. She didn't even know that it existed. At least she didn't tell me of her knowledge of it if she did."

"Wait, so if Beryl didn't know about this," Amy asked, "then who did?"

"Whatever the true ruler of the Dark Kingdom was."

"You mean _who_-ever it was, Darien!" Casto answered.

"What?" Darien gasped.

"That's what I was trying to say before we were interrupted by your call. When I was returning to the Moon Kingdom, I saw more than Beryl that attacked the kingdom that day."

"I remember you saying something about this black cloud that swiped at your shuttle," Mina said, "and that you saw the entity had a humanoid form at one point."

"Yeah, but there was more to it than that. Something didn't feel or look right. I only caught glimpses of the attack after I began free-falling, but from what I could see, Beryl seemed to be in and out of it at times. She was acting on her own power at one second, then under complete control the next. Was a weird sight to see, though I couldn't do anything about it. If I had gotten control of my shuttle back, I could've tried to use that to our advantage to at least buy everyone some time to rally some more forces."

Luna sighed upon hearing the news that Casto just delivered. "We will never know, unfortunately. Though I don't remember Beryl fluctuating in and out."

"Probably because she was still attacking the Kingdom. Maybe her reasons were changing as a result, but it was still the same actions, unfortunately."

"Well, that doesn't really matter now," Darien interrupted, trying to get back on topic. "All that matters is that we find this Hizrounswa, and destroy it, however we can."

"Even if this thing existed," Lita proclaimed, "we wouldn't have the faintest where to look for it."

"Actually, I think we might have an idea where to start." Darien laid the pages of the book onto the table next to which he was sitting, and pointed to a spot on the second page of the article, "Legend says that the last place where it was spotted was somewhere in a large desert."

Amy took the pages and read the sentence that Darien was referring to. "So that could mean it could be either in Arizona, Australia, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt."

"Arizona," Casto responded. "I know exactly where to go, at least. If we're going to go on a hunt for this Hizrounswa thing, I can do a search there."

"Been in Africa before," Mina answered. "And Egypt and Saudi Arabia are rather close. I could try to find it there."

"And," Raye added, "I've taken a trip to Australia before. I do believe I could try to locate..."

"Hold on!" Serena commanded. "We're not about to get separated, especially when this crystal is the least of our problems!"

"But Serena," Raye answered, "if Rubeus gets his hands on..."

"I'm not saying it isn't dangerous, Raye. What I'm saying is that instead of hunting for the Hizrounswa, we hunt for Rubeus."

"Why would we hunt for the guy trying to find the thing when we could hold the crystal as _our_..." Raye began to ask in response, only to remember what else Rubeus now had in his possession: Serena's mother. "Oh, yeah. How could I forget? He's got Ikuko. If we're not quick on this, he could very well kill her."

"Plus, I think Serena's onto something here," Casto added. "Rubeus would be trying to look for the crystal, too. He may want to get the crystal and then kill her."

"But if the crystal is still out there," Artemis answered, "he would need her in order to make us keep searching for it."

"Don't think that he wouldn't try to speed up the process somewhat. He looks like an impatient man. He would try to locate the crystal himself. So, if we do what Serena suggests and try to find the person who wants it..."

"Then," Luna exclaimed, "instead of us leading him to the crystal, he could lead us to it!"

"When we know he's found it, we follow him to the place, and make our move."

"We have to do this quickly," Darien said. "He must not even touch the crystal."

"I don't want to wait to go after him, though," Serena replied. "If he finds out our plan, he'll respond by taking my mom's life. I gotta rescue her before anything else happens to her."

"Hold on!" Raye commanded. "Serena, you said you didn't know how he survived that UFO explosion, correct?"

"Yeah, and I said that I didn't care how he did!"

"Maybe we should care! That could be a clue as to where he's hiding out at!"

"Yeah," Amy answered. "I always thought that some spaceships would have some sort of escape mechanism to get people out if anything were to happen to it. Maybe Rubeus knew that, too."

Raye nodded. "Find whatever he escaped in, and we'll find Rubeus?"

"I would believe so. I could check on my computer, to see if there were any strange sightings in the past few days."

"Do it, Amy," Serena said. "I want to see where that bastard's hiding!"

"I'll see if I can dig up anything else on this crystal's location," Darien added. "This has me scared. Hopefully I'm wrong and this is just a myth."

**-xXXXXx-**

Rubeus definitely had things going his way. He had used the bonds on Ikuko once more, tying her up to a huge basement pipe. The basement was the foundation for a small cabin that Rubeus was not about to reveal the location of to anyone (he even blinded Ikuko until he got there). Besides the pipes, there was a broken-down table with some chairs in the middle of the room, and the wooden steps that led to the first floor of the cabin, the basement was barren. The book that Rubeus had found in the escape pod was on the table, but with the pages about the Hizrounswa torn out of it. Rubeus knew he lost those pages while in the hospital, though he wasn't worried about it: he still had a spare copy made just in case anything happened (he wanted to make sure his claim of being a smart man was true, after all).

"All your daughter has to do is to find where the Hizrounswa is, and you'll be free to go, my sweet pet!" Rubeus said as he was hunched over at the table, studying the pages. "Well, maybe!"

"What are you talking about, Rubeus?" Ikuko cried.

Rubeus straightened his posture and walked over to Ikuko. "That crystal that your daughter and her freakish friends are hiding from me! As long as they do that, your life remains in my hands! Don't worry, Miss. I'm not about to kill you just yet; you're too hot of a number for me to off so quickly. Plus, I know that you realize now who your daughter-no, I should now say your adopted daughter-really is!"

"She's my daughter, you creep, and that's all there is to it!"

"She doesn't carry your blood, you dumb bimbo! Don't you see that? Don't you see that your daughter has been lying to you from the day she was born? You saw her transform before your very eyes. You know the truth now. How can you not be angry with her, want to ground her, hell, want to disown her for what she tried to pull?"

Ikuko was fuming with anger at this point. "How dare you even fathom that I would disown my family for anything? I'm not angry with her! I'm proud of her for the lives she's protected, and how determined she is to protect our family! She put all her beliefs aside to keep me from being hurt! How can anyone not appreciate a daughter like that? You, sir, are the worst human being I've met! I love her, no matter what you try to say to me about her!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot, you actually would be so dumb," Rubeus answered. "After all, what mother just leaves their kid to die without even checking? You cared more about your husband than Sammy! How pathetic is that?"

"You don't think I'm disgusted with myself that I didn't know he was in the house? You don't think I get sick to my stomach, that I don't feel any guilt, for leaving him there? You have no idea how horrible I feel because I neglected him!"

"You really should, though I thank you for letting me get her attention!"

"No matter what you say, she's still my daughter! I've loved her from the minute I held her in my arms! Even if she isn't my blood, she's still my damn daughter!"

"All right, all right, please spare me the melodrama! God, part of me want to just kill you right now just so you'll shut up!"

"I'd rather be dead than to see her get hurt!"

Rubeus glared upon hearing that. "You say something, bitch?"

"You heard me, you pig!"

"You're right, I did, and I didn't want to!" Rubeus slapped his prey in the face as hard as he could, turning Ikuko's face to the side as a result. "I told you to shut up! Or do you want me to test how true those words you just spoke were? Just remember, if you die, your son will die, as well! No compromise!" He returned to the table to study some more.

_'Serena, I'm sorry! I'm sorry about everything,' _Ikuko thought. _'Sammy is in the hospital because I was stupid, and now I'm here, and I actually deserve this, for what I did to help turn our family upside-down. I just hope you can find this crystal and take Rubeus' head off.'_

Rubeus, however, ignored the fact that Ikuko was in tears and looked at what the text on the pages said. "In the desert, the gods attempted to hide it from their enemies because it was the only power that the enemies possessed which they feared. However, the desert in which the gods hid the Hizrounswa is unknown to this day." He smiled as his eyes left the papers, and he stared at Ikuko. "How stupid do you think your daughter really is, huh? If she read the same thing I did, I don't think for a moment that Serena would figure out that it was Egypt that they buried this thing at, right? The pyramids, the Egyptian gods, deserts. She couldn't find her way out of a damn paper bag, why do I think she'll lead me to this crystal?"

Ikuko couldn't say anything, but she narrowed her eyes.

"That stare," Rubeus said in response. "The perfect sign that a woman is pissed, and that's how a woman usually gets what she wants from whoever she's delivers it to. What a shame that I've seen it before in Lady Emerald, and it didn't work then, either. Though if you ever heard her voice, you'd see why it was hard to look at her, you would be too busy holding your ears hoping they didn't bleed! In any event, Egypt is where this is, I bet! And you're not going with me...not that you have a choice! And don't try anything fancy while I'm gone, either. Remember, I could return at any second, and if I see you trying to escape, you die, and you know what happens to your son if you die!" He then disappeared.

Ikuko could only sob and cry up a storm. "Serena, please, don't let him win. I trust you!"

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena had gone to Amy's house (the other Sailors decided to get some sleep until something was found out). The two were looking for anything suspicious that could've led them to where Rubeus was hiding.

"Any luck?" Serena asked, coming into Amy's room with some hot tea for both of them as well as various snacks, trying to keep awake long enough to find anything.

"Not really," Amy said while looking up stuff on her desktop computer. She took a sip of her hot tea. "Just various sightings, some of which are completely false, while others are under that pending investigation thing. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Serena sat on Amy's bed and drank some of her own tea. "Just people thinking that lights are UFOs and that?"

"Well, yeah. There's a ton of those on the sites. You'd think that it would be a rare thing, but I'm fascinated that so many people actually believe this stuff. Probably from a lot of the science fiction stuff that people eat up. They'll believe anything."

"We're from outer space, in a way."

Amy thought about that for a moment. "Well, in a matter of speaking, we are, but not in the same way, I would assume."

Serena sighed. "I wonder what my mother thinks of me now that she knows the truth. Maybe she thinks I'm some kind of weird alien instead of her daughter."

"She loves you to death, Serena," Amy answered, turning around to face her friend. "I'm pretty sure she's just puzzled as to why you hid it from her all this time."

"I was following rules. You know, the super hero's secret identity should never be revealed to anyone."

"You know that rule doesn't really exist, Serena."

"Artemis was scolding me at first, though."

"Artemis was thinking with his brain instead of his heart, and he changed his mind about the reason later on, if you remember. He was worried about what your mother might've thought. He didn't want you two to have some sort of family feud over it."

"He might be right on that. I don't know what she thought about it."

"To tell you the truth, Serena, I think she might've already had her suspicions. She had that look as if she just knew. That motherly bond and all. You never see it, you never hear of it, but you somehow know that something is true." She saw Serena sigh and get a bit teary eyed. Amy sat up and approached her friend, kneeling down to look into her eyes. "Serena, we'll find her and make Rubeus pay for what he's done."

"I"m just so scared that he'll do the unthinkable."

"He won't. As long as he needs that crystal, he'll need your mother alive for us to keep looking for it."

"If I find my mother dead there, Amy, I...I don't know if I would be able to handle it."

"Rubeus has felt your wrath before. I'm sure he'll deserve all of it and more if, God forbid, that would happen."

Serena's sadness turned to anger, her body beginning to tremble once more. "If that son of a bitch lays a finger on her, I swear I'll break him in two."

Amy was still shocked when hearing Serena turn on her anger switch like she was. "You know, in a way, I didn't ever think that you had this in you, Serena. No offense, but I have never thought of you as a person who would want revenge so bad, even if someone harmed your family like Rubeus did. At least not expressing it that way. You're being a lot more vocal about it than I thought you would be."

"I really don't know how to show this anger. I've never felt anything like this before in my life."

"It's different with everyone as to how they show it. Some just let their actions show it, others wear their emotions on their sleeves, and others try to hide it. You've always handled yours in the quiet, letting actions do the talking type of way, but when you saw what Rubeus did, you snapped, and this new side of you is coming out."

"I don't like it, Amy. I really don't like this side of me."

"But I do, Serena. It shows your humanity. And personally, I hope this side of you comes out when facing Rubeus. I didn't think in a million years that he was capable of..."

"What's that?" Serena suddenly asked.

"Oh, I was just saying you're showing that you're human because..."

"No, Amy, I meant on your computer screen. That's not a picture of a UFO light."

Amy turned around towards her computer. Indeed, there was a picture of something much larger than a simple light. Rather, a spherical object. It got Serena attention as much as it had now obtained Amy's, as the latter went back to her desk chair and looked at the picture intensely. The photo's caption read, "Large spaceship that was seen by man in the arctic. Crash landed near the South Pole, according to the expeditionary." The colored photo showed that it was a titanium alloy of some sorts, at least from how Amy perceived it. Whatever it was, it was large enough to hold a single passenger, which was enough for Serena (who had now came up to the desk to see the photo herself) to narrow her eyes.

"In the arctic, you don't usually see that," Amy said. "It looks like some sort of escape pod."

"It would be able to hold only Rubeus, but he was the only one on that UFO," Serena answered. However, it was then that she saw something in the description that made her gasp. "The expeditionary proclaims that he saw the flying sphere in August," she read aloud.

"If that's when he saw it happen, then it crashed landed two months ago."

"Exactly when we trashed Rubeus in his UFO!"

Amy got out her mini-computer and hooked it up to her desktop computer. It looked like a chore, but she was able to do it with ease. "Let's see if this works."

"What are you doing?"

"Going to see if the Mercomp can read that photo and tell us if what we think is true."

"The Mercomp?" Serena asked, puzzled over what Amy just called the mini-computer that she used as Sailor Mercury.

"Thought it needed a name, and I thought of it a month ago on the fly. Just fits."

"Amy's Mini-Super Computer of Truth might've been more fitting."

"Too long, though kind of like the idea of it. The Mercomp Truth Computer!" Amy thought about it for a moment. "Nice ring to it, actually."

A few moments later, the "Mercomp Truth Computer" was finished finalizing its version of the truth of the picture it was scanning. What Amy read from the scan startled her.

Serena heard the gasp. "Amy?"

**-xXXXXx-**

"We got him!" Serena yelled as she threw a few sheets of paper down on the table. She had called the emergency Sailor meeting in the Shrine, even though not many of the others were ready to wake up just yet.

"Hold on!" Luna said before yawning. "You're saying that you're sure of this _just _because of a scan you two got from a picture."

"Ninety-eight percent sure, according to the reading," Amy answered. "The pod was made of the same metal alloy the UFO was, although it was made with protection in mind, and was more armored than the UFO was, if you can believe it."

Lita was busy looking over some of what the papers read. "Two months between when this thing landed and now."

"It was two months since we fought him on the ship," Raye added.

"Which means," Serena replied, "that Rubeus must've escaped that way."

"But," Artemis interjected, "how are you sure that was Rubeus that was able to get away in the pod? We know he can teleport."

Serena, however, had a quick answer. "Maybe something happened when Reenie took out the crystal that controlled his ship. He must've gotten his powers temporarily neutralized when she did that, or at least he thought they were. Would explain the need for the escape pod."

"Or maybe he just wanted to play it safe, or be fancy about it," Lita replied.

"Still, though," Luna continued, "you're basing all of this on a picture. We don't know if it's true or not, and remember what Rubeus is after now. We may just find the pod but not him."

"Could be a start, though," Serena responded.

"I agree," Amy added. "If this is right, and we find the pod, we can then track where Rubeus went to."

"And if we find Rubeus' hideout, we'll find where my mom is being kept. Simple as that."

"But Rubeus won't be there, I'm sure of it," Casto suddenly said. He was being silent the entire time, reading a copy Darien made of the two pages from the crystal book about the Hizrounswa, trying to listen and study at the same time.

"What do you mean, Casto?" Serena asked.

"I think I've realized what this text was saying about the crystal." Casto then put the two pages onto the table with the other ones. "It said 'gods' and 'desert', and that the gods feared the crystal's power and hid it somewhere in a landmark desert. The gods were said to have created something else that is highly known: pyramids!"

As Serena picked up the newly placed pages to investigate, Amy answered, "And there's one place where pyramids are known to reside."

"Egypt," Serena said sternly. "The only place that makes sense now."

"Hopefully Rubeus hasn't figured it out yet," Artemis noted.

Luna shook her head. "I don't know about this. We're going on pure speculation at this point."

"We've gotta try it, Luna," Raye answered. "It's her mother's life we're dealing with! We can't take any chances."

"And remember what Darien said about this crystal," Mina replied. "We cannot let the crystal get into his hands."

"Again, it's a good place to start looking," Amy added.

"Actually, Amy," Serena objected, "I need you to go to the South Pole and check on that pod."

"S-Serena?" Amy asked, puzzled at the request.

"I trust your readings. It's got to be there, and if it is, then my mom can't be far away."

"But Serena, listen to what you're asking her," Artemis said. "She'll be by herself, in the freezing cold, trying to find something we don't know for certain is even there. God knows what kind of environmental danger you're asking her to put herself in. Plus, if we use the Sailor Transport to send her there and everyone else to Egypt, something we don't even know is possible to accomplish, how will she be able to return?"

"Luna, you need five Sailors to use the transport, I take it?" Casto asked.

"Yes, we do, and if Mercury..." Luna stopped, now realizing what Casto was ready to ask. "Wait a second. We may be acknowledging you as a Sailor, but that doesn't mean that you would be able to be used as a viable power for the transport. I don't know if it could work without all the planetary Sailors."

"If I were to take the place of Mercury, though, that would at least be one of the requirements down, and that's the only one that we know exists. Like you said, we're basing all of this on what we think we know."

"They'll still be able to use the transport," Artemis answered. "However, the parameters would be different because of the unusual power that the transport is receiving. It's not guaranteed of what could happen as a result of using it. That also still doesn't take away what this would mean for Mercury. I don't know about using the transport three or four times in one go."

"It may be a bit better if we all go and try to find this crystal first," Raye added. "Then we can all head to look for this pod thing and try to find Rubeus..."

"No," Amy barked, "that's not what I meant when I...Serena...I was touched that you trusted me enough to have me go do this for you."

"What?" Artemis gasped.

"Of course I'll go find the escape pod!"

"Amy, you do realize what this means, right?"

"Exactly! I don't mind. Serena has gone through a lot, and her mother has to be going though torture being tied up like a dog with that creep. That and we both suggested we would go find it together at some point."

"Amy," Serena responded, "I didn't mean to say you had to..."

"I want to, Serena. Besides, doing things this way will cover more ground more quickly. We can keep Rubeus occupied while we try to find your mother and get her back."

Serena walked over to Amy, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you, Amy."

She responded by returning the embrace, closing her eyes for a moment. She didn't even know Serena trusted her this much.

"Amy, promise me something," Serena ordered.

"Anything!"

"The second you get into danger, get in touch with us. We'll stop the search and get you the hell out of there. I don't want you to risk more than you have to. I'm questioning myself still as to if I should've asked you of this to begin with."

"I promise!" Amy smiled and then she and the others got into position, as the first thing they needed to do was to transform.

"Alright, girls," Casto said, "Let's do this!"

"Mercury Star Power! Make up!" The bubbles and ribbons donned Amy in the Sailor Mercury outfit, almost instantaneously. To some, it was about ten seconds, but to her, it felt like only one.

"Mars Star Power! Make up!" It was fireballs surrounding Raye and making her clothing, no ribbons here.

"Venus Star Power! Make up!" Mina told her Sailor friends one time that the Venus ribbon chain that made her into Sailor Venus tickled slightly. She often had to stop herself from laughing as she was being transformed, though not this time, as she was determined more than ever.

"Jupiter Star Power! Make up!" Lita felt even stronger in the green lace-up boots and with her antenna tiara on, as several lightning bolts changed her into Sailor Jupiter.

"Moon Crystal Power! Make up!" Serena's eyes were narrowed this time as she was transforming. She had always wished to have a reason to use this power, but not like this. Rubeus would pay, and pay dearly. Serena, now Sailor Moon, promised herself that she would make him aware that no one messed with her family.

"Vulture Medal Power! Suit up!" Casto's shadow power would've been more than enough to help these plans work, but as the vulture shadows circled him to change him into the Vulture—actually it was now Sailor Vulture—he told himself that he would protect his sister and her family at any cost, even if that meant forcing his power to help the girls. He was determined to make up for the time lost between him and Serena.

"Alright, Sailors," Moon proclaimed, "only one way to find out if this works."

"Mercury," Vulture said, "let's get you to the South Pole first. If we can get you there, then we know that I can sub for you. Then we'll head to Egypt to get that crystal."

"One more thing," Luna chimed. "If either the Egypt group or Mercury spots Rubeus, I recommend that you inform the others. Don't fight him at anything below full strength. And Casto?"

"What's up, Luna?"

Luna answered by jumping up and flipping backwards, the sparkles forming a communicator. Only this time, the communicator was a flip top and gray in color, like Mercury's Mercomp, only more compact.

"Woah, Luna! Kick ass!"

"Like the cosmetic changes I made?" Luna asked, smiling at Casto as he picked it up.

"Yes and then some. You learn quick."

"I thought since we're denoting you as a Sailor, you might as well have the equipment to be one."

"Hopefully this ain't your only trick."

"Now, then, Casto. What did you tell us we should do to Rubeus? I think it was, um...kick his ass?"

The others were somewhat shocked that Luna would say it that way, but Casto chuckled a little afterwards. "Hey, you said it _this_ time, not me!" He turned to the others. "Well then, if Luna said it, we better get to doing it!"

**-xXXXXx-**

Outside, the Sailors readied themselves for something that they didn't know would work. However, there was no time like the present in their minds, and this could be their best chance to resolve a lot of what had happened during these past few days, and to prevent something catastrophic from occurring once again.

"Darien will stay at the hospital in case Rubeus shows up there," Moon said. "I hope he knows how important it is to have him there."

"If it wasn't for him," Vulture mentioned, "your mother would not be alive right now."

"Alright," Mercury interrupted, "I'm ready."

With a deep sigh from Moon and Mercury, the Sailors got into their positions, with Serena and Casto next to each other in the circle the Sailors had made. Amy was at the center of this circle.

"Here goes nothing," Vulture replied. The Sailors began the transport, hoping that this would work.

"Jupiter Star Power!"

"Venus Star Power!"

"Mars Star Power!"

"Moon Crystal Power!"

"Vulture Medal Power!" Casto held his eyes tightly shut, hoping that his power wouldn't screw up the process.

All together, the Sailors then yelled, "Sailor Transport!" Within seconds, the entire group disappeared, leaving no traces of their former presence behind.

Luna, who was watching them from the front door of the Shrine, could only smile as the girls—and guy—went off to attempt to save the world once more. A few second after seeing them leave, Artemis trotted over to her side.

"Luna," he said to her, "I didn't know you to swear like that."

"There are a lot of things not many know about me."

"Like you taking a liking to Casto?"

Luna blushed slightly. She didn't expect Artemis to say such a thing. "Well, he is a nice guy, or course."

"You gave him that special communicator, though."

"My talents are improving, mind you. It's been awhile since I made those communicators for the other girls. Casto's just the test for a new version, that's all." She then thought to herself, _'I hope your power can help them, Casto. Keep Serena and them safe.'_

**-xXXXXx-**

It was nearly a barren wasteland. The scorching temperatures of the Western Egyptian Desert were more than what one person could probably handle without having the risk of suffering from sunstroke. There was not even a single camel, which were commonplace in this part of the world, in sight at the moment. No civilization, no buildings, and—of no surprise—little to no water anywhere. However, if one could look well enough, there were a few pyramids to be seen around the center of the desert, but they were rather far away from where the Sailors were deposited.

The plan, more or less, was that they would all go to the South Pole and drop Mercury off, and then do the transport again to go to Egypt. However, something went wrong, or so they thought. They had not only gone right to the Egyptian Desert, but Mercury was nowhere to be found at all.

Moon looked around to try to spot her. Maybe the addition of the Vulture powers made the transport go haywire as Luna had said they could.

"Oh, my God," Moon exclaimed in panic. "Where is she? Where's Amy?"

"I don't see her anywhere," Mars answered.

"Please tell me I didn't just risk her life with me asking to join..." Casto began to say.

He was interrupted by a voice that was familiar to him and the others. "No, I'm just where you needed me already." Casto opened up his communicator to see that Mercury was still alive. She was just already in the South Pole, a snowstorm surrounding her.

"Mercury!" Serena yelled, ecstatic that she was alright.

Mercury smiled as she saw everyone else there. "I thought something went wrong. I only saw myself here and knew that wasn't part of the plan."

"I guess our powers have minds of their own and decided to kill two birds with one stone," Venus replied.

"Either that or Serena's brother there made the Transport capable of doing such things."

Casto smiled. "I'm glad it worked. Don't care how it did it right now; I'm just glad we both got to where we intended to be."

Amy nodded, and then continued, "Alright, I'll see what I can dig up over here. If I find anything at all, I'll contact you. Don't worry about me, just worry about what you need to do."

"Remember what Luna said, too, Ames," Lita added. "If you see Rubeus, don't try to fight him by yourself. Lord knows what kind of plan he may have."

"Right! We fight him at full strength! Okay, I'm ready to go. Talk to me if you find out anything about this crystal! Mercury out!" The communication then ceased, Casto flipping his communicator closed.

"Okay, so now where do we go?" Venus asked. "Doesn't look like there's too much here. We would need some sort of detector in order to find anything."

"Hope whatever gods hid this thing didn't decide to bury the thing in the middle of nowhere," Vulture answered. "Would prove to be impossible for Rubeus to find, though."

"Wouldn't be so sure about that, Vulture," Mars chimed in, pointing to some markings in the sand.

Moon also saw them, looking at them strangely. "Is it here?"

"Would be one hell of a lucky break for us if it was," Vulture answered. "Right where we..."

"No, it's a footprint," Jupiter interrupted. "Of some flat-heeled boot."

Moon now saw, it, too, and also that there were more than one of them. "They look like they're fresh. Any sandstorm might have covered them up, so it wasn't that long ago, and they run over that way."

"Towards that pyramid in the distance," Mars replied, pointing to the only pyramid that was in the direction that the footprints were heading towards.

Moon's eyes narrowed. "He's here," she growled.

"Now remember what Luna said, Sailor Moon," Mars said.

"Yeah, I know. We fight at full strength. But I also know what I proclaimed. For me to break that man in two."

"Which is fine by me as long as we remember what he has as his ace in the hole right now. He wants you to lose any sense of judgment because of your anger, that's why he's doing all of this. He wants you to lose it, and then take advantage of your lack of judgment."

Moon remembered what Amy had told her earlier, as well, about how she remembered Serena using calculated actions to show her anger. That in addition to Mars' words made Moon sigh deeply, trying to hold herself back from rushing to the pyramid.

"Let's all go in together," Vulture suggested. "Remember, we now have an advantage. We know he's here, but he doesn't know we are, too! We have the advantage of surprise right now."

Mars walked over to Moon, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Sailor Moon, we'll get him, I promise, and I'll make sure no one gets in your way of giving him what he truly deserves, I promise you that."

"Thank you, Sailor Mars!" Moon answered.

**-xXXXXx-**

Once Sailor Mercury ceased the communication she had with the others, she looked ahead of her to see that she was in no different of a wasteland. Alright, so it was snow and arctic temperatures instead of the humidity and sand, but it was still a wasteland, and trying to find anything in these conditions would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, due to Mercury's newly-named Mercomp, that needle would stick out like a sore thumb before long. She continued to walk ahead, not really sure where she was—besides that she was in the South Pole—and uncertain as to where to start looking for this escape pod, assuming it was here at all.

However, this did prove to be beneficial in one way: Mercury could clear her mind on a few things.

"Casto" she said to herself once more, "what did you mean by Beryl going in and out of control? Everyone knows how she intended to destroy the Moon Kingdom, and we all know her reasons. Why are you saying it was a different story than how we know it? Oh, wait, that's why, I forgot. You had a different viewpoint and saw the whole thing from your shuttle that you were using. That still doesn't explain why you are telling a much different story. I don't want to say that I don't trust you, but it's still bothering me."

Mercury sighed and looked around some more, scanning every inch of the snowy tundra with her Mercomp. She knew she needed to focus on what she was there for, though she still couldn't believe that Serena trusted her enough to accomplish this on her own. She was choosing to do this, but the freezing conditions were making it hard for her to think of this as a wise decision. She was thankful that her Sailor powers were resistant enough from the harsh conditions to let her accomplish this mission. Though it didn't exactly make her want to stay any longer than she had to, it made the conditions more bearable.

That was, until the Mercomp began to beep like crazy. It was pointing Mercury to the south end of where she was originally walking. As she began to be directed by the Mercomp, she could see a small ditch within the ice and snow. It was rather far away, but the computer beeped crazier than ever as she approached the ditch.

It was once she finally arrived at that hole in the ground that her suspicions were confirmed, and her jaw dropped. "My God!"

Before her eyes was a sphere; the same one as she had seen in the picture, even though it was much bigger than the picture had depicted. It was indeed a one-man escape pod. From the Mercomp's findings, it had the same exact metal alloy as the UFO, though it was also true that it could've withstood a lot more than the UFO could. Mercury inched closer to the sphere and touched it carefully, the metal being ice cold from the arctic air that was now blowing snow right at her.

"So that's how you did it, Rubeus," Mercury said. "You wanted to be sure that your powers didn't screw you over. Conventional methods for the win, I guess."

She looked inside the pod to see all kinds of controls for various actions. She knew she should've called the Sailors at this point to tell them that she had found the pod, but she was too fascinated by all the controls. She never seen anything like this before in her life. She wanted to learn so much more than she had, and thus, she stepped into the seat. Her first major sighting upon looking through the pod was a torn page. It wasn't that informative as it was only a title page, but she now knew the obvious: it was from the same book Rubeus had found the information about the Hizrounswa in. She was positive now that Rubeus had been here.

She folded and stored the page within her shirt and continued to fool around with the controls, also in order to find out how long ago the pod had been was used. She assumed that something could tell her what had happened right after he had crash landed. Any clues that she could get from this finding would've been helpful. She found a few small hook-ups from which she could download its data banks to a portable device. She had one of those, obviously: the Mercomp. Good thing the device had a storage area to keep such hook-ups as well (another reason why she loved that little gadget).

She took out a small cord and hooked up the Mercomp to the computer on the ship. Within seconds, and with the help of some knowledge of hacking into computer systems, she was in and downloading. She only wondered if the Mercomp had enough space and memory to hold all of the data that the ship had in its banks. Thankfully, it completed the download, and she was about to exit the shuttle and call the rest of them when the door slammed shut. Mercury tried to open the hatch, but it wasn't even budging. She was stuck in there unless she could find some way to open the door.

Things would only get from bad to worse, however, as a few moments later, Mercury head a few words from a computer voice that scared her to death: "SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED! SELF-DESTRUCT IN SIXTY MINUTES! THIS SEQUENCE CANNOT BE ABORTED!"

Mercury was in a panic. 'What in God's name did I push or do to start...?"

She soon got her answer, as in front of her, a video began, and the video was from a familiar adversary: Rubeus!

"Hello, unlucky one," Rubeus began in the video. "I'm sure that, if you're watching this, you did some sort of big no-no! You see, I need to protect my investments, and because of that, I have to do this sort of thing. I would love to sit and watch the pieces of you be skewed all over the tundra, but I have much bigger fish to fry. Anything that you do that wasn't authorized by me, which is pretty much anything you do to my ship, will result in the escape pod locking you in, and making you have to think about what you did, all before you die! Be thankful, though! It'll be quick and painless, unlike what I usually would enjoy! You have sixty minutes to live! I'm very sorry...well, on second thought, no I'm not!" After some maniacal laughter from Rubeus, the video ended.

"He must've known," Mercury said. "He had to have known someone would find it!" Mercury pounded on the door with her fist, as hard as she could. "Anyone hear me? Anyone? Someone get me out of here! Please!" She dropped back into the seat and began looking for anything that she could that might've at least let her escape. However, everything she pressed proved to be useless.

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN FIFTY FIVE MINUTES!"

"No, this can't be happening!"

She could only think of one other thing: she pulled her communicator out and tried to connect to any of the Sailors to tell her there was some danger. However, when she pushed the connect button, she could only see and hear static.

"Serena? Lita? Raye? Mina? Casto? Anyone?" She could feel a single tear leave her eye. "Luna? Artemis? This is Sailor Mercury! I'm trapped in the escape pod with a self-destruct mechanism set for fifty five minutes! I need help to get out of here! Nothing I'm trying is working!" She got no answer, and she tried to also bang the communicator on the dashboard of the pod, but even that didn't work. "No! Please don't let me die here!"

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN FIFTY-THREE MINUTES!"

Mercury found herself short of breath already.

**-xXXXXx-**

It took a good five to eight minutes, but the Sailors eventually got to the pyramid. It was huge, nearly the same height as the Hikawa Shrine and the hill that it sat on combined. Large sandstone bricks formed the towering structure, with some of the lower blocks protruding to make climbable steps.

"Woah!" Jupiter gasped, looking up at the pointed structure amongst the few other pyramids on the horizon. "If only Amy were here. She would've gone crazy studying all of this."

"Incredible," Vulture added while trying to kick the sand off of his boots. "I only saw these in movies and in books. Never up close like this, though."

"If we don't stop Rubeus, we may never see them again," Mars interrupted.

Sailor Moon, who was ignoring her heat exhaustion, looked down to see the footprints stop right at the base of the pyramid. "This has to be the one he was looking in, or is looking in."

Venus didn't wait for anyone to start doing what she was attempting to do: find an entrance into the labyrinth. "Gotta be a way in somehow!" The other Sailors watched as she ran and jumped all over the pyramid, in such a way that was reminiscent of her Sailor V days. It would have cut the search time down considerably quicker that way, though the heat could have also made the tactic that much tougher to accomplish.

"It could be anywhere on this beast," Jupiter shouted to Venus, hoping she heard.

"It's not on this side, though," Mars yelled above the wind of a small sandstorm.

"Opposite side," Vulture suddenly answered.

Moon looked at her brother awkwardly. "Excuse me?"

"Opposite side. In all of the movies I've seen that deal with the pyramids, when someone follows footprints, the entrance to the pyramids are always on the opposite side of the place where the prints stopped."

"Weird way to put it," Mars replied.

"Call me old fashioned, but that's always how it worked."

"But movies are not real life, the entrance could be anywhere," Jupiter conceded.

"They can mimic real life, though. They always have structured movies to be more realistic. They could always suspect that it would turn out like that in real life, so they use the logic in their movies."

"I think I found it!" Venus yelled, her voice echoing. Though they could barely hear her, Moon heard enough to run over to the opposite side of the pyramid. Sure enough, there was a small opening, just enough for someone to crawl into. The other Sailors followed Moon, seeing her determination.

"I told you it was on the opposite side," Vulture said.

Moon, however, did not speak as she suddenly crawled into the hole and disappeared into the pyramid.

"Sailor Moon, wait!" Mars commanded. "We don't know what's in there!" The others shrugged at each other before following Mars into the pyramid.

**-xXXXXx-**

There were thick gold blocks that made up the walls in the narrow hallway that the Sailors entered within the pyramid. There were some weird hieroglyphics on the walls, none of which the Sailors could make out without some help.

"This is what we needed Mercury for," Jupiter said. "Without her, we're clueless as to what any of these mean."

Vulture, however, was looking at his communicator, searching for other features the new toy had in addition to calling people. He pushed a few random buttons before one button caused a slight flash of white in front of the communicator.

"The hell was that?" Mars gasped, looking right at Vulture. The rest of them stopped and looked at him, as well.

Vulture looked at the screen on his device for a moment, and then smiled. "This thing even has a camera, and that picture came out perfectly. Maybe if I can take some pictures, we could at least document what we found and then ask Amy about them."

"Good idea," Venus nodded. "And we won't have to worry about staying in this creepy place for too long."

Moon, however, paced ahead as she saw something peculiar. "Look at this! I think this one is pretty straightforward!"

The others went to look at the drawing. It was self-explanatory: it showed two Ancient Egyptians transporting a crystal to an ancient pyramid, and then, a block down, it showed the same Egyptians using blocks to hide the crystal while fearfully watching a figure with horns on its head. There was also a sort of arrow pointing downwards.

"It's here, further down," Moon proclaimed.

"Yeah," Mars agreed. "There's no denying it now. They put some type of crystal here."

"The gods feared the Hizrounswa, so they hid it from the demons in a pyramid," Vulture added. "That's probably what this all is, telling whoever entered this place that they hid it here."

"Why would they make it so obvious, though?" Lita asked. "Anyone with a brain could've easily figured out that the crystal was here."

"But it could be anywhere in the pyramid. There's no higher level, so the only choice is down below."

"So that could mean that these other drawings could've been what they feared about the Hizrounswa," Moon believed.

Vulture looked at what he and the others thought were drawings that they couldn't decipher. They showed of the crystal shooting beams at the gods, and then the gods becoming skeletons with "X"s across all three of the gods illustrated. It also showed the same horned figure using the crystal with a big grin on his face. There was an arrow that went from the drawing of the gods' death to the crystal hiding.

"They must've thought that it could kill them," Vulture began, "but nothing yet on what the exact power was in it that they feared."

"Gotta go further down to find that out," Moon said.

"Hold on, there's a torch here," Mars said. "We could use this."

"Wait, Sailor Mars!" Moon commanded. "You do know pyramids are full of weird secrets, right? Touching that torch could open a new route or be your death! Remember what my brother said about the movies!"

"There wouldn't be any trap or secret this high up," Vulture answered. "No movie ever used that tactic that quick."

"The gods wouldn't have wasted their time with this level, anyway," Jupiter added.

"It said it was further down," Mars agreed. "Nothing to fear."

She slowly picked up the torch (with no additional environmental changes as a result) and very softly said, "Mars fire ignite." The torch lit up instantaneously, and now they could see a bit better. There were some stairs leading downward, starting where the first drawing that Moon had figured out was.

Slowly, the five Sailors began descending (though not before Vulture took a few more pictures of the drawings). Moon ignored anything that would normally make her want to bail. Yes, she was scared to death in dark and spooky places like this, as she was now and would probably always be. Though it was trademark of her to put her fears aside to help her friends, the personal hardship was giving her strength she didn't realize existed. She found that the more she was determined to face Rubeus, the less she even thought about her fears. They were so nonexistent that not even the stray bat that she heard while she was walking down the steps could faze her.

Eventually, they got to the bottom of the steps, and what they found could've discouraged anyone: there was a huge pit in the center of the room. There was indeed a bottom, but any normal person that would've tried to jump down from this height would've had some bones out of place as a result.

"You've got to be kidding me," Venus gasped. "These gods can't possibly have expected anyone to try to go down this thing."

"They do, Venus," Jupiter answered, directing them to another drawing that Mars used the light of the torch to see. It illustrated the gods using an elevator platform to take the crystal down to the lower level.

"It's a fifty foot drop, though," Mars stressed. "And there's no platform like that from what I can see."

"I don't suppose that fancy gadget that Luna gave you has a grappling hook on it, does it?" Venus scoffed.

"I wish it did," Vulture answered. "There has to be a way down, though. I have to think that they wanted to make sure they could still find it, but keep these directions vague enough to keep the demons guessing what they meant."

"Well, good news," Moon shouted out, "I think we have our way down. Bad news...well, look."

The others turned around to see the same thing that Moon saw, which was a pulley mechanism with a large chain attached. That was obviously the good news. The bad news was what it was buried under: skeletons. Lots of them, probably about five or six, and from the looks of things, they hadn't been touched since whoever they used to be died there.

"Oh, you can't be serious," Venus said, holding her mouth in shock. "All of this for a crystal?"

"This damn well better have been worth it to discover," Mars added. "They went out of their way to hide it."

"I thought I smelled something rotting," Jupiter said. "Please tell me they've been dead for longer than ten years."

Vulture, however, approached the pile of corpses and slowly contemplated moving them.

"Bro, please tell me you are not going to do what I think you're going to!"

Vulture proved Moon's suspicions correct, albeit with some stark hesitation. He slowly put his fingertips on the top body and slowly moved it out of the way, the body falling into the pit. Vulture was grunting and crinkling his nose during the process, which he repeated with a second body.

"I cannot believe you're touching those things," Venus said.

"Someone's gotta move them, might as well be me," Vulture replied.

"How the hell can you...?'

"Let's just say," Vulture began while moving a few more bodies, "I will not be paid enough money for me doing this shit!" One more body later, and the pulley was clear. "There, hard part's done!"

"You better wash your hands when we get back to Juuban," Moon scolded.

"No problem there. Though it was strange: those bodies were just left here, out in the open, for what seemed like the longest time, but I moved them with ease. They didn't erode when I handled them. It was like they had just died."

"How long?"

"Can't say, though I'd imagine that any other skeleton that had been kept like that for so long would've seen worse days, believe me. Didn't sit right with me."

"Well," Mars interrupted, "the important thing is now they're out of the way."

"Uh...yeah, of course," Vulture staggered. "Now to find out what this is for!" He began to crank the pulley wheel, seeing that the chain was attached to a platform.

"Well," Moon said, "now we know where the elevator was."

A few moments later, the elevator was pulled up to the point that it wouldn't move anymore. It was level with the floor the Sailors were on.

"Alright, all aboard," Vulture commanded. "I'll try to find some way to hold this up long enough for me to get on. Seems this thing is broken, why it wasn't up here."

While the girls got onto the elevator, Vulture looked around to find anything he could that would hold the pulley in place for a few moments. He found one thing: one of the dead bodies he just got done moving. With it just out of his reach, he decided to hold the pulley in place with his foot while grabbing the arm of the skeleton, hoping that it would hold it in place long enough as he pulled the skeleton towards him, placing the skull below one of the wheel spikes. With the skull being the only thing keeping the elevator from free falling, Vulture quickly jumped into the elevator. He thanked the gods for putting a guard rail on the edges. They were all going to be needing them shortly.

"You girls might want to grab hold of something, because this could be a bumpy ride!" As the girls held the various objects per Vulture's command, Vulture closed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of him. "Vulture, attack!" The shadow vulture power struck the skull and shattered it. That was all it needed for the pulley to begin spinning like a top. Vulture quickly grabbed a hold of a chain as the platform was falling at about a mile a minute. About ten seconds later (and with the group feeling the blood rush to their heads), the platform crashed at the bottom of the shaft onto the sandy floor. Sailors Moon and Venus got knocked off their feet from the crash, while Mars and Jupiter were just barely able to stay on theirs as they almost lost hold of the chains. Vulture had one foot on the platform and the other on the guard rail, trying to avert complete dizziness. Thankfully, the Sailors were alright, though they could've seen their lives flash before their eyes during the decent.

"Please remind me to never do this again," Venus asked.

"I didn't think we would have to go through all of this trouble," Jupiter added.

Moon was about to respond, until she spotted something. Not a drawing (though there were several on this level that she did see), but someone that made her forget what she just went through. "There he is!"

"Rubeus!" Mars growled. "He did know where to look!"

He was in a large circular golden room with two cage-like doors that were made from iron planks. There were paths behind each door, and Rubeus had been trying to look for anything he could to open the doors. He was even trying to shoot them with his beams, but to no avail.

Moon could be heard taking deeper breaths, and she clenched her fist and narrowed her eyes. She was ready more than ever, especially with Rubeus' back turned and inconspicuous to the Sailors' presence.

"Hold on, kemosabe," Vulture commanded, grabbing hold on Moon's arm. "Remember, full strength."

"Calling Mercury now," Jupiter said, unaware of the new danger that Amy was now in. When she tried to contact her, she found nothing but static on the feed. "What the hell? Guys, there's nothing coming in. This isn't good."

"Interference from the pyramids or the Hizrounswa?" Mars asked.

"Shit! Can't get her in on mine, either!" Vulture yelled as he also saw static on his newer communicator. "The hell's going on here?"

**-xXXXXx-**

Mercury had pressed button after button several times, trying to find the mechanism for the door to at least give her a chance to escape. However, she found nothing. Not even hacking the system through the Mercomp did anything.

"No," she cried, "please, God, don't let me die here!"

She got up and tried to push the door open with her arm strength as much as she could. Nothing was happening. She then put her back onto the cushion of the seat and used her legs to try to shove the door open, kicking on any part of the door that she could. Even though there was a one in a million chance that something could've happened as a result, she was beginning to panic and was ready to try anything.

"It's no use," Mercury told herself after a full minute of trying to break free from her sentence. "Rubeus got me! He got all of us!"

"Amy," Mercury suddenly heard on her Mercomp. It was full of static, but that sounded a lot like Sailor Jupiter. Mercury suddenly got back upright in the seat and swiped up her Mercomp. She could hear something, but the video was completely blocked.

"Amy here," Mercury yelled out. "I'm trapped in Rubeus' pod. There's a self-destruct..."

"What the hell?" she heard Jupiter suddenly asked. "Guys, there's nothing coming in. This isn't good."

"No, Jupiter, it's me, I can hear you! Please, you must hear me!"

"Let me try it on mine," she heard Casto say. She then heard that same man call out. "Amy, it's Sailor Vulture. Can you hear me?"

"Casto, I'm here," she cried out. She was smiling at the sound of the voice, but a few tears were coming down her face as well.

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN THIRTY MINUTES! REPEAT, SELF-DESTRUCT IN THIRTY MINUTES! THIS SEQUENCE CANNOT BE ABORTED!"

"Shit! Can't get her in on mine, either! The hell's going on here?"

"No, Casto! Anyone! I can hear you! I don't want to die here!" Mercury then got no answer. Only static as video and audio were a bust.

Mercury began to let all her emotions go, letting her tears flow. "I—I'm gonna-I'm gonna die! Oh my God, I'm gonna die!"

* * *

Usual critiques are appreciated.

Good night and good luck.


	5. The Race To Hell

BLINDED BY REVENGE  
CHAPTER 5  
The Race To Hell

Written by Darkpower  
Rating: 14 (Dialogue, Violence, Language)

* * *

"Luna told us not to face him at anything less than full strength," Sailor Jupiter said after failing to connect with Amy through her communicator.

"But she didn't foresee us not being able to get in touch with her when we did find him!" Sailor Moon responded.

She has spotted Rubeus in the Circle Room, attempting to open the gates by any means necessary. He knew for a fact that the Hizrounswa death crystal was in the lower tombs of the pyramid, and he was as determined as ever to locate it. The Sailors were told to not face Rubeus if they were not at full strength, but Sailor Mercury was still in the South Pole, and the Sailors could not establish a working connection.

"No, you will not keep this thing from me, I know you have it! It's all I need!" Rubeus yelled as he began to kick the doors. "I'm the demon you gods were fearing! I want that Hizrounswa, and I'll get it if it's the last thing I do! Then I can dispose of that pathetic wretch of a wasteful mother I have!"

Moon was trying her hardest to keep herself under control, but what Rubeus had just said got on her last nerve. She began to charge into the room.

"Serena, no!" Mars yelled, but it didn't stop her friend from shoulder tackling Rubeus, sending him face-first into the floor.

Rubeus looked up to see Sailor Moon standing there with the rest of the Sailors. "Well, now, I can see you had a bit of help in discovering the obvious!"

"Shut up!" Moon growled. "I heard what you said about my mom! Why can't you just stop while you're still alive?"

"You don't understand yet? I love seeing people like you squirm!" Rubeus got back to his feet. "That's why I went after your family, and that's why I wanted to put an end to your future daughter."

"Don't you dare talk about Reenie like that!"

"You mean you would protect that little spore, too? I would love to see the day...although she was responsible for my ship falling apart! If it wasn't for that little wretch, I would still be battling you girls in the future!"

"In case you missed it, I already did protect her by rescuing her from that pile of junk!" Moon was still ready for Rubeus to make a move.

It was a move that Rubeus was trying to pull without the Sailors knowing he was doing so. Jupiter could've sworn she heard something going on behind her as she glanced back slightly every so often.

"Well," Rubeus continued, "I guess you're right. You did prove yourself to be of some worth. Too bad you couldn't be of any worth to your other family!"

Moon took her tiara off and, in a fury of rage, swiped at Rubeus' face with it. Rubeus nearly evaded the attack, but he got caught on the chin right before he was able to jump away. He could feel a few drips of blood leave the wound.

"You sadistic bitch!" Rubeus shrieked, holding his chin to stop the bleeding.

"You want to see sadistic?" Moon growled. "Keep talking!"

"Uh, Sailor Moon, we have another problem," Jupiter announced. The others turned around to see that a few of the dead bodies that littered the floor of the elevator room-including the bodies that Vulture had moved to get to the pulley earlier-come to life as zombies. Some were skeletons and some still with rotting skin on them. They began to limp towards the Sailors.

Rubeus laughed wickedly. "See what happens when you mess with me, Sailor Moon? Ah, see, here we are." He looked over to see a small lever that was hidden amongst the protruding gold blocks. With one pull, both doors were now open, but the paths were going in different directions. Rubeus chose the left door, but not before he turned around quickly and shouted, "You can have whatever fun you want with those dead weights. Get it? _Dead_ weights?" He shook his head, chuckling as he disappeared down the left path.

"Come on, let's not worry about these guys! Follow him!" Mars yelled. However, the second that they were about to go through the gate, the doors slammed down. "_Shit_!"

"We won't be able to open them again until we get that lever down," Vulture answered. However, that would prove to be a challenge, as zombies now surrounded them, keeping them away from the lever. The undead made the Sailors back up against each other as the fear factor had taken its toll on the five.

Suddenly, one of the corpses put a hand on Sailor Moon, and that was all she needed for provocation. She responded by using her Tiara and stabbing the zombie in the chest. The zombie persisted and continued to try to grab Moon, but it was a struggle as Moon continued to swipe away, using the Tiara's other property, its sharpness, to her advantage.

Her sudden jolt of determination (and a sense of courage they had rarely seen in her) helped the other Sailors get there nerves in check.

Jupiter kneed one of the undead in the gut. While it was hardly enough to faze the zombie, it bought Jupiter enough time to speed out of harm's way before any other zombie could grab her. She got to the entrance of the circle room, and readied herself, turning back around to face the zombies.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

The move hit two of the zombies, and they were soundly defeated, the corpses turning piles of sand.

"I don't think they can stand up to our attacks at all!" Jupiter sounded. "All we have to do is use our Sailor powers, and they are as good as dead! Well, dead again, I mean!"

"Yeah, bad news is that we need enough space to use them!" Venus shouted.

Mars was also able to break free, and she got one of her kanji scrolls out, ready to take on the entire group. "Everyone spread out, now!"

With Jupiter already out of the closing circle, Moon, Vulture, and Venus all followed Mars at first to get away from the surrounding undead. They proceeded to get to different ends of the room. This way, the zombies could only pick off one person at a time, and they were more spread out than they were before, making battle that much easier.

This was especially true for Vulture, who saw a zombie outstretch its arms in an attempt to grab him. Casto only challenged the corpse. "C'mon, you hungry freak! Try chewing on this!" The zombie tried to grab him, but as it got its hands onto Vulture, he responded by tossing the undead over him, knocking the zombie onto its back. It was trying to get back onto its feet, and Vulture was ready for it. However, another zombie was right behind him.

"Bro," Moon yelled, seeing the zombie try to get Vulture while she was attempting to slice another with her Tiara, "behind you!"

Vulture heard his sister and quickly elbowed the zombie that had tried to sneak up on him, He followed this up by a few punches to it, though it was barely doing anything to hurt the creature. It did, however, slow it down enough for Vulture to get enough distance to plant his feet.

"Vulture Attack!" screamed the male Sailor, and quickly, the shadow vulture killed both zombies. Two piles of sand were all that was left of them.

Meanwhile, Moon was fighting her own zombie, swiping away with her Tiara. The zombie was only being stalled by her repeated slices. No matter what she tried to do to the thing, it kept staying on its two feet, trying to capture her. She had to think of something fast. She remembered how well she could jump, and quickly did a leap frog on the zombie. This gave Moon enough time to get herself set with her Tiara. Instead of calling for her move, however, she wanted to show this zombie-and possibly Rubeus-that her Tiara could do this in with more ways than one.

As the zombie turned itself around, Moon put both hands on her Tiara, and with her eyes narrowed, she stabbed the zombie right in the heart with the Tiara. The zombie screeched in pain before disappearing into a sand pile. Another zombie came after Sailor Moon, but before it could even do anything, Sailor Mars had its number.

"Mars Fire Ignite!" Mars' fireball inflamed the creature, burning it into a sand pile of its own.

There were two undead left, and they were both chasing after Venus. She was trying as hard as she could to get some distance from them, but she swore that they were gaining on her. She didn't realize that zombies could be so fast. She kept trying to run until she was against the back wall of the elevator room. She pivoted around to see that the zombies were just about to grab her. She didn't have enough time to call for any of her attacks, and while she could definitely punch and kick, she was not as much of a fighter as Jupiter or Vulture was. With the zombies absorbing most of the physical attacks those two were giving them, Venus didn't stand a chance if she tried to go that route.

Her eyes then spotted an opening, literally. Right between the two zombies. She would have to slide through it, and there was no guarantee that they would not be able to catch her during the process. It was the best chance she had, and as Venus began to run towards the corpses, she prayed for the best as she slid feet first through the seam. The zombies didn't give up that easily, as they quickly turned around to try to get Venus. By that time, however, she knew she had them.

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!" she yelled as the chain of hearts swiveled around the two undeads and bound them to each other tightly. The two zombies were now trapped, and Venus smirked as she returned to her feet. "Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"

It went exactly according to plan. The zombies were dispatched, and with that, all of them were defeated. The piles of sand were all that were left of the risen dead that Rubeus had used to attempt to stop them.

"So much for Rubeus being a good necromancer," Vulture said. "Those zombies didn't put up much of a fight."

"I think it was more of a distraction," Mars answered. "Now, let's get Rubeus before he finds that crystal!"

"Right, Mars!" Moon agreed. She went to where the lever was and pulled down on it. However, this time, the lever broke off, making this the final time they would be able to get into the doors, much to everyone's dismay.

"Aw man," Venus stomped. "Why us?"

"It won't stay open for long," Jupiter commanded. "Everyone, in there now!"

Vulture was taking pictures of all the hieroglyphics that were in the elevator room when Jupiter called for haste. He heard the command and tried to get as many pictures as possible onto his device.

"Bro, c'mon!" Moon shouted, trying to hurry him up before the doors shut again. Casto was awfully quick to get into the left door with the rest of the Sailors before they shut once more. This time, though, there was no turning back. Or at least until they found another way out of the pyramid. They were now in a hallway made up of off-gray stone bricks.

"Okay, everyone go slow," Jupiter ordered. "This place has given us some rather unexpected encounters so far. Let's expect the unexpected."

"Somehow," Mars answered, "I don't think that's the last time anyone will be hearing _that_ line."

Nonetheless, the five decided to heed to Jupiter's command, and they walked slowly despite the urgency of their situation.

**-xXXXXx-**

Sailor Mercury had never been this scared in her life. She was located in what could've been called the middle of nowhere (currently also known as the South Pole), and she was in the escape pod she had just discovered. It was the pod that Rubeus had used to escape his UFO two months ago, but it was becoming Mercury's death bed rather quickly. She had somehow activated the self-destruct mechanism about a half-hour ago by downloading the information that was in the escape pod's data banks onto her Mercury computer, which she had aptly named the "Mercomp". It was like a prison now, with the door sealed shut. So far, nothing she had done to try to break free had worked.

"This cannot be happening," she told herself. "Serena, I know you trusted me, but I couldn't have...God, I feel like a failure now."

She tried to fumble with the same buttons she was trying to use to get this door open for the past half-hour. Like all the other times she had tried, nothing was doing. Mercury felt a fountain of tears escape her eyes. Sailor Moon had had her doubts about asking Mercury to investigate this pod (she thought that the pod would be a pivotal clue in finding Rubeus' whereabouts and where he kept Serena's mother).

"This is it. I'm gonna die here. I don't want to die here." Mercury could barely talk as her throat became dry. "Please, anyone, hear me. Serena! Lita! Raye! Mina! Casto!" She could hear them just fine, but they couldn't hear her.

"Hold on," she said, suddenly remembering something. "Darien should have a communicator, as well." Even though Darien's communicator had the same design as the rest of the Sailors', it had the advanced connection features that Casto's had. Maybe that change in communication could be enough for Darien to connect and tell Casto that something was wrong. Darien was still at the hospital, so his communication abilities were hopefully not hampered by big blocks of granite and stone.

With all the hope in the world, Mercury got on her Mercomp and attempted to call Darien. She could hear something once she was connected (at least she thought she was connected), but there was also wild static.

"Darien, are you there? It's Amy! I'm in the South Pole! I can't contact any of the Sailors, and I need help! I'm in a pod in the South Pole that's about to blow up! Need them to rescue...!"

That's all she could get in before the "connection lost" sign appeared. She tried to connect once more, only to get the same message. She frantically tried a few more times in fright, but there was no use. It was completely lost now, and she responded by slamming her Mercomp onto the dash of the pod.

"Some truth this computer is, huh, Serena?"

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES!"

Mercury once more got onto the seat and pounded on the door as hard as her arms would allow.

"Please, someone, anyone! God, someone found this thing before, so there's got to be someone who's still here! I don't wanna die! Please, don't leave me in here! Please!" She could only cry at this point. As her head collapsed on the top of the chair, she could only admit one thing, something that she never had before (at least not like this).

She was scared of death.

**-xXXXXx-**

The hallway the Sailors were in twisted and turned every which way. Sailor Moon almost cried when they found out that one of the paths that they had taken during the trip through this maze led to the door on the other side of the room which they had entered this hallway in the first place. The proof was in the sand piles that were in the room beyond the sealed door, a reminder of their battle with the zombies. However, Mars did remind them that they had previously come across a fork that led to this same path. Thus, they began to go the other way.

As they were backtracking to the fork, however, Sailor Moon spotted something rather peculiar, especially in a pyramid (or was it a temple at this point?): a sheet of paper. It was wedged in between a few of the stone blocks, and Moon had some trouble removing it. When she finally pried it loose, she found that there were two pieces instead of one. One had a note scribbled on it. The paper looked as though it had been in there for some time, as it had years of decay to its name, and it was also smudgy and dirty. Still, it was rather easy to read what was written.

"Looks like whoever wrote this decided to say something in plain text this time instead of drawings," Moon noted.

"Why would the gods write something like this when they had all those drawings on the walls?" Venus asked. "Doesn't make any sense!"

"They probably got tired of being cryptic or something," Jupiter replied. "Probably thought that we were too stupid to get those things."

Moon began to look over the note, and then stated, "Ah! They believed that not many would get past that room we fought those things in!"

Vulture's eyes nearly came out of their sockets. "You mean the zombies weren't Rubeus' doing?"

Moon only responded by beginning to read the note aloud:

"To whomever reads this: Please end this struggle. If you have gotten through our defenses and were able to decipher our messages, then you are worthy to know what happened." Moon stopped reading and looked at her brother. "Explains why this note was here."

She continued reading: "We tried everything we could in order to hide Satan's weapon. It was made with the fires of Hell itself, and we have been powerless to try to stop anyone from using it unless we keep it out of the hands of evil. The Hizrounswa should never be unearthed, and never see the light of day. We write this in the hopes that someday, people will discover what happened here and why it did. Our friends promised us that they would make sure that they keep the crystal from falling into the wrong hands. If anyone were to get past them and to let them finally take their rest, then they are worthy of the gods trusting them with the death crystal. Those that have given their souls are the gods that have suffered a great price to protect us while we hid the crystal. Their bodies will be able to protect us and Hell's weapon even after they have passed on though the protection of this temple. We prayed for the time in which our tortured souls can finally be put to rest."

"It _is_ here, then!" Mars gasped.

"That must also be why those dead bodies were still preserved, even when they were laid out like that on the pulley" Vulture added. "Those must've been the gods. They were on that wheel to keep anyone from coming down here."

"If anyone moved them from their original spot," Moon said, "then they would come alive and do away with the intruder."

"Poor guys," Venus sighed. "They must've waited thousands of years for someone to give them peace."

"Glad they're in a better place now," Mars somberly answered. "They deserve the rest."

Moon read some more: "We saw a field where our friends were slain by the demons that were using the weapon. We do not recall who was able to wrestle this weapon of Hell from the hands of evil, but we are forever thankful for their sacrifice. All that is left to do is to hide the crystal in the confines of this temple. We pray that the people who find it can do the right thing and destroy the one thing that even we could not destroy. It is somewhere where you would least expect. The only thing we should fear now is someone with evil intentions putting our loyal friends to rest in an effort to finding the crystal." Moon paused, then said, "That's all there is."

"They must've waited centuries for someone to come here and read that." Mars added. "To think that this paper had been kept in even that state all this time."

"That must mean that Rubeus was taking the easy way to the crystal," Vulture claimed. "Having us destroy the remains of the gods so he can proceed. The gods probably knew Rubeus was bad news."

"Good thing Rubeus didn't find this," Moon said with a small smile and a sigh of relief. "He's probably wondering where he even is right now."

"What's on the other page, sis?"

Moon looked on the other sheet. On it were a bunch of drawings that didn't make any sense to her. "Looks like a map of some sort, but I can't make it out."

Venus motioned for the map, and Moon gladly handed over the paper. She looked over what seemed to be some directions to the Hizrounswa. She shook her head, however. "It's a map of this temple, I would assume. There's just too much written on this for anyone to have a clear understanding of what they were trying to say."

"Wait a minute!" Vulture gasped. "That note! It said that the Hizrounswa was somewhere where we would least expect it!"

"Yeah," Jupiter agreed. "So where would the gods believe no one would expect them to hide it?"

"Beyond these halls, probably," Mars answered.

"No, that would be the next place they would suspect," Vulture argued. "They would just look all over the place ahead of..." he stopped.

"What is it, bro?"

"They would least expect it to be in the place where you would have to do some sort of ritual to get into the meat of the temple! No treasures are ever there in the movies!"

Venus suddenly got what her friend was saying. "Oh, my God! You can't be...!"

"_The elevator room_!" Moon shouted.

"That's where we just came from! Where we fought the gods!"

"No one would want to look in a place where all those bodies were just lying around! The gods were there because they were protecting something, and it couldn't be just a coincidence that they were only found in that one room! The crystal must be in the elevator room!"

"Bad luck for us, though," Mars sighed. "Those doors are locked from the other side now."

"Damn it!" Moon stamped, slamming her fist on the wall. "It was right under us and we didn't even consider it!"

"Hold on, sis!" Vulture objected. "Good news is that we're the only ones who know this now! Plus, the gods knew someone would eventually get this far, so if we're correct, they would've provided some way to get back into the elevator room from here."

"Even if that lever didn't break," Jupiter added. "they would've wanted whoever found this paper to be able to return to the room from the other side."

"We have to get to the fork," Moon commanded. "There's not much more time before Rubeus realizes it!"

With haste, the five hurried (now with the paper as guidance) to the fork. They made a mental note of where they had already been. In front of them was the path that led them to the fork to begin with. On the angle to the left was a dark hallway with a few more twists and turns, and then a straight hallway that seemed to be very inviting. Down that hall, the Sailors could see a huge lever that was not used yet.

"Okay, it's way too obvious that's a trap," Mars said. "That way, to the left."

Everyone started to run down that way except Venus, who stared at the lever with curiosity.

"Sailor Venus, come on, don't hit that lever!" Jupiter yelled out, though Venus had yet to move.

Moon, however, turned back around and looked at the lever, as well. "Where we least expect it to be!"

"I'll check the other hall," Vulture informed them, "just to be on the safe side."

"But that may take a while to run through," Mars scolded. "We don't have that much time! Rubeus might realize that it is in the elevator room by the time you come back."

"No, he won't. Trust me, all this confusion from the hall maze would be leaving him dizzied."

"What are we supposed to do, then?"

Vulture pondered a moment, then answered with a shrug, "Just wait for me, I guess. Strike up a conversation or something. I won't be that long." He then began to run into the other hallway.

"Now I _know_ he's my brother," Moon groaned as they waited for Vulture to return. "He's exactly like me, only way more excited at being here than I am."

"I don't know, Serena," Mars replied. "You seem to be right at home doing this. Maybe your backup destiny is being a tomb raider."

Moon shook her head. "I'm just determined to stop Rubeus, that's all! You know, the Serena that can't control her temper anymore! The Serena that just suddenly likes school because it passes the time! The one that is getting better grades for no reason! The one that is cussing up a storm nowadays!"

"Ah, that's a bunch of crap and you know it!" Venus objected. "You read that note with joy in your eyes, like you were going to find a rare artifact that you wanted to put into a museum somewhere. You're enjoying this, Serena. More than I thought you would be. You were telling us all about those drawings on the walls like they were second nature."

"Yeah," Jupiter added. "You should really consider it. You're pretty good at reading cryptic messages, knowing what to do in tight situations, all of that. It's like this setting puts you into a zone."

As Jupiter was talking, Vulture returned, a bit out of breath, but still alive. "Something else she's really good at: remembering what was said in notes. That lever is the right lever."

"How do you know?" Mars asked.

"The other hall has a lever of its own. It was harder to get to, which was why I was out of breath. There were some rabid bats that were attacking me, surprised you didn't hear them."

"Rabid _bats_ that were _attacking_ you," Moon groaned again. "Yep, you're my blood, all right!"

"We were probably talking over them about Serena," Venus mentioned.

"I heard you, too. I can see why you were deaf to them. In any case, it doesn't take an Indiana Jones to figure out how this lever is the right lever: that other one was just used. Has a huge hole under it."

"Where you least expect it!" Mars realized. "Any normal person would dismiss this lever as too easy and go for the harder lever to get to when this one is the right one."

"Someone wanted us to really explore this place, sis! You kick some major ass!" As Serena smiled somewhat at the flurry of compliments, Vulture continued. "Alright, now for the hard part: does this lever open up the doors or is this a second hole?"

"One way to find out!" Moon paced over to the lever. She stuffed the papers into her shirt and, with a prayer being said, slowly pulled down on the lever with a loud grunt. Once the lever was all the way down, she returned to her group. There was no sound and no hole.

"So it did nothing?" Venus asked. "Does that mean the hole is the correct path to...?"

She was interrupted by loud creaks that lasted about ten seconds. That was the sound they were hoping to hear.

"Took it a bit of time, but it knew who we were," Vulture cheered through a smile. "The Sailors and Indiana Moon!"

Sailor Moon could only look at him funny, a cold stare escaping her. A few seconds later, however, she turned the cold stare into a wide-eyed one and a smile. She also touched his face with her hand.

"Thank you, bro. I'm really glad I found you again! You've always been there, through everything, even when I didn't think I wanted you there!" She kissed him on the forehead and then ran for the doors back to the circle room, with Casto following her.

**-xXXXXx-**

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN MINUTES!"

Mercury had pressed every single button in that escape pod and called every person imaginable (she had even tried to call Luna and Artemis in the hopes that they would somehow be able to answer). She had kicked, scratched, clawed, and punched the door in every conceivable way. She had yelled and yelled until her voice was hoarse. She even tried using her Mercury powers to try to get the door open. But this escape pod had to have been made of the most protective metals known to man. She was wondering if this was really an escape pod or something much more sinister. She was also scared at this point of who else this escape pod would hurt when it self-destructed. No one was present at the South Pole; at least, no one that could hear her. She wondered, though, if the imminent explosion could reach past Antarctica. What explosive impact would this have on the world, what with it being a futuristic vehicle? For all she knew, it could've been a weapon of mass destruction in disguise.

All she knew was that, in ten minutes, it wouldn't matter because she would be dead anyway. She wouldn't want anyone else to die, but at the same time, she now felt the things she took for granted being ripped away from her. She could only pray at this point that something would happen that would save her. It was the only other option, even though she prayed a few other times during the hour. She was afraid to die, and it was physically showing. Her hair had become a mess, her face dripping beads of sweat, and her limbs even showed weakness as she fought to keep them from going limp. Her psyche was more than tested, as well, with her halfway unsure of who she even was as a human being.

"Why did I tell you I wanted to come out here, Serena?" Mercury asked herself. "Why did I even agree to this?" She shook her head violently. "No, Amy, that's just your fear talking! She would never knowingly put your life in danger. But...my God, she wanted me to come out here in the freezing cold to follow up on something we didn't even know existed. I'm gonna slap her when I see her again, and tell her she's no longer my friend! She sent me out here to die! Please, Serena, don't talk to me again! I hate you! God, I hate you so much!" She then buried her head onto the dash of the pod and cried again. She thought she had no more tears to shed. "I hate you, Serena! You don't deserve to be Sailor Moon! You deserved Rubeus...!"

She bit her tongue. She couldn't believe what she was almost ready to say: that Serena deserved Rubeus' attack on her family. Shock befell the ice Sailor as her head came up, unsure what just happened.

"God, I don't even know what...!"

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN NINE MINUTES!"

Amy screamed bloody murder. There were no words in the scream, and no thoughts. Just a loud roar. She didn't expect anyone to come and rescue this crazy woman that was screaming for no reason. She also punched anything she could find. The dash, her computer, the seat, the door, anything to get her anger, frustration, and fear out. She truly did hate Serena now (at least she believed she did), but at the same time, she loved her. She was now lost, and one thing was for sure:

She understood what Serena had meant last night.

**-xXXXXx-**

The Sailors had gotten back to the elevator room. The piles of sand were kicked around as the five tried to locate anything they could to find out where the Hizrounswa was. It was a hard sell, as nothing they found so far was telling of where the crystal was.

"Sis," Vulture asked, "did they say what to look for? Like, what 'X" marks the spot?"

Sailor Moon had to pull out the slips of paper once more, studying the map. She still was unsure of all the markings that were illustrated on it, but she nonetheless took her finger and trailed it across the page, trying to locate anything that could provide a clue.

"This is a wild goose chase we're on," Mars concluded. "Why would Rubeus even think this was so easy to find? In the place we least expected? Yeah, I have a few places that these gods would least expect me to _shove_ this damn crystal!"

"Now now, Mars," Venus scolded, "remember what happened in this room. Don't want to make them angry again!"

"I don't care anymore. We're in the middle of nowhere, in the blazing hot sun, and in some godforsaken pyramid which reeks, and we're running around in circles finding something that may...!"

"Right here!" Moon interrupted, startling Mars with her sudden exclamation. The other Sailors heard Moon poke the paper in a particular spot. "In that niche to the left of the platform."

Vulture looked over to see that there was a small alcove right where his sister had told them it would be. Without hesitation, he rushed over to the recess, or at least what little there was of it, and saw that it was extremely sandy.

Mars looked at it with a cold stare. "Yeah, this will take forever to dig up, and if Rubeus finds us again while we get this thing out of here, we'll have..."

"Oh, my God!" Vulture interrupted with a loud gasp. He backed up from the alcove a few paces, looking right above the sand to see that there was another hieroglyphic.

The others looked up where Vulture's eyes were fixed, and they were startled by the drawing, as well. It was of a large vulture pointing right down at the floor, where Moon suspected the Hizrounswa to be.

"This cannot be happening," Venus answered. "A crystal, made from the fires of Hell, and the one place where Sailor Moon is sure that it is has a picture of a vulture hovering right over the spot."

"No other reason why one would want to just put something like that right there," Jupiter added. "Vulture means death, right? Like Rubeus said?"

Vulture shook his head. "No, not in Ancient Egypt. They're seen as excellent mothers here, protective of their children and what they hold dear to them."

Moon looked down at the page, and saw the same vulture drawing that was before them. "The gods must've hoped that whoever found it knew what they meant by drawing that."

"Yeah, that Casto has what I want!" the Sailors suddenly heard from behind them. Moon and Vulture both turned around first to see Rubeus standing in the center of the circle room, staring at the group.

"That's right," Rubeus continued, "did you even think that your games would've fooled me for very long? You're sadly mistaken!" He began to walk towards the group, all of the Sailors now standing tall and ready for him to attack. "Now, as I was saying, Casto, you have something I want! Don't pretend that you don't have it, because that drawing shows that you're lying!"

"Even if I did," Vulture roared, "I would never give it to someone like you!"

"Oh, harsh words, Sailor Vulture! But need I remind you of what is at stake? Your sister's mother is still in my custody, and if you even think of being brave, I can just go over there real quick and make sure that she dies! What a travesty it would be for someone whose sister just met him to put her through! She's already going through a lot, Casto! Don't make her have to go through it again, because I'll make sure she does!"

"I don't have it!" Vulture growled once more.

"Like hell you don't! The vulture means _death_, and the Hizrounswa is a _death_ crystal! So, if you're the Sailor of Death, then that would mean that the crystal is with you, and not in this little nook you think it is! It's telling of how utterly useless you would be to protect them! All you care about is death! That's why you're refusing to let go of it, aren't you? Because you want to see death? You really don't care what happens to Serena's family, do you? You thrive on the misery of others!"

Vulture only gave a deeply cold stare at Rubeus as he continued to approach the Sailors.

However, Vulture soon answered sternly, "No!" and punched Rubeus in the mouth twice, once with a left hook and again with a right. Rubeus fought to regain his balance, and Vulture was charging to hit him again. Rubeus, however, raised his arm quickly and fired a yellow beam that hit Vulture in the chest, sending Casto back first into the wall opposite the nook.

"_Brother!_" Moon shrieked.

"Give that damn crystal to me now, or should I show you that I'm right about...!"

He was interrupted by Sailor Moon jumping onto his back and trying to choke him to death, her forearm nearly cutting into his throat.

"Some brother he is, Sailor Moon, huh?" Rubeus spun around and slammed Moon's back onto a wall, which made Moon have to relinquish her hold. She tried to jump onto his back again, but Rubeus spun around, caught her by her throat, and slammed her into the same wall. "Don't even try to pretend you care about him! You just met the bastard and he's trying to kill your family!"

"The hell he is," Moon growled before kneeing Rubeus in the gut. It sent him reeling back, hunched over. Moon followed up with a jump kick right to Rubeus' temple. It sent him off his feet, but Rubeus was quick to kip up and begin to fire a beam.

"Mars Celestial Fire! Surround!" This time Mars was able to set the move off, and she forced Rubeus to dodge the attack, which in turn stopped him from firing the beam at Moon.

"Bro," Moon commanded to Vulture, "we'll keep him distracted! Get that crystal dug up! The gods drew the vulture to protect it! You should be the one to find it!"

"Will do, sis! I'll need some time, though!" Vulture went back to the niche and started to dig through the sand once more.

"You think he stands a chance, you brats?" Rubeus yelled as he fired a furry of beams at the Sailors. All of them jumped out of the way, but in separate directions.

"Venus Crescent Beam! Smash!"

"Jupiter Thunder Bolt! Crash!"

The two powers combined to form a yellow beam that seemed to be trapped in barbed wire. Rubeus nearly got hit by the super beam as he slid underneath the shot, the blast colliding with the bricks of the circle room and in between the two doors. As the bricks crumbled slightly, Rubeus quickly fired two beams at Jupiter and Venus. Venus got out of the way in time, but Jupiter received a blow right on the chest as she was knocked to the back wall of the room.

"Mars Fire! Ignite!" The fireball traveled at a high speed, but Rubeus countered with a beam that destroyed the fireball and nearly hit Mars as she flipped sideways out of the way.

Rubeus saw that he had a direct shot at Vulture, who was continuing to dig to look for the crystal, and began to power up a direct shot. "It's because you have it! You're lying to me, Vulture!"

"No, he's not!" Moon yelled, throwing her tiara right at Rubeus, aiming for his throat. He knocked it out of the air, but Moon quickly caught it and began to attempt to slice him with the sharp ends once more. Rubeus chuckled as he was mocking her at this point, jerking out of the way of each slice.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" Jupiter was going to repay Rubeus for that shot, and the pressure cloud that flew at Rubeus hit the small of his back, which made Rubeus yell out in pain. However, more importantly, it made him cease all movement, glancing back narrowly at the girl who had hit him.

Sailor Moon was now given the opportunity of a lifetime: one good swipe at Rubeus with her tiara. She gave a cold, hard stare at her adversary, waiting for him to look back at her. '_Come on, you bastard_,' she thought, '_let me see that pretty face! I'll make sure you always remember who the hell I am!_'

"You bitch!" Rubeus yelled to Jupiter. "Is this what you girls are reduced to? Hitting a man while his back is turned? What a damn shame! Maybe I should just teach you a lesson!" He fired a quick beam at Jupiter, who jumped up out of the way and towards him. Seconds later, her boot met his face, kicking him square in the cheek. It made him turn his face around towards Sailor Moon, which was all the awaiting girl needed him to do.

Once Rubeus turned around, Moon drew back her arm as far as it would go. He didn't even have enough time to react before she released the proverbial trigger. The wound was deep, going from his left cheek to his right eyebrow, and bleeding rather profusely. Rubeus stepped back quite a few paces from the immediate pain and held his face to try to stop the bleeding.

Sailor Moon could only stand completely still, with her hand that held the now blood-stained Tiara at her side. Blood was also on her uniform and gloves. Her body was trembling in anger. She breathed quickly and heavily, not taking her cold, nearly dead stare off of Rubeus. "Now, Rubeus, where's my mother?"

"Go to Hell, you sadistic bitch!"

Sailor Moon began to slowly pace closer to Rubeus, the other Sailors just giving her all the room she needed. "I asked a question! Where's! My! _Mother_?"

"Like I would tell the woman who would set such a bad example for her team and her daughter!"

The boots made echoes as she stepped closer and closer to Rubeus, who was still in shock from her sudden act of violence. "I'm not afraid of you, I'm not afraid of this place, I'm not afraid of what I will have to do to get my family back!"

"Yeah, get the crystal away from your sorry excuse for a..."

He was interrupted by Moon suddenly slamming his back to the wall and bringing the center tip of her Tiara to his throat. Rubeus was still bleeding and in shock of this side of her that he had never thought existed.

"He's my brother!" Sailor Moon venomously growled. "He's my family! I will protect him! I will protect my big bro! I will protect my little bro! I'll protect my friends, my boyfriend, my father, and my mother! They are all my family, and if you think for one minute that I would not do things that no one thought I was ever capable of, then you'd be sadly mistaken! That scar will always remind you of the shit you've put me and my family through this week! I'm damn sure not afraid to kill you, Rubeus! I'll make damn sure you're dead this time!"

'_Serena, don't!_' Mars thought. '_What's gotten into you?_'

'_Th-This is scary,_' Venus thought, '_C'mon, Serena, this isn't you. You're scaring me. We'll fight him again; we'll find your mother alive. Just please, put that Tiara away._'

"You're here, ready to kill me," Rubeus stated, laughing through his words. "If you only knew how much you fail to protect your friends, how you're the one that puts them in danger, even when you don't realize they are. Hell, I'm surprised that your daughter is still alive right..."

"_SHUT UP!_" Moon screamed before slamming Rubeus' back on the wall again, the tip of the Tiara barely missing his throat. The outburst was at a decibel that no one had ever heard out of her before, and the sudden action only frightened them more.

It was clearly enough for her brother to suddenly run up to her and put his arms around her. "_Sis, don't!_ Please, for the love of God, _don't_!"

"Why not?"

"Because, you...the Serena I know...would never be this bloodthirsty, would never use that language, and would never think of murdering someone for revenge!" Vulture backed Moon up just enough to where Rubeus didn't have that cold metal nearly piercing his Adam's apple.

"Do as your brother says, Sailor Moon! You never know what I might do now that I got my trump card at home! Don't worry; once your mother hears about this incident, she'll ground you for life! If she's still alive to hear about it, that is!"

Moon was about to throw her Tiara right at him, but Vulture grabbed her throwing arm before she was able to. Rubeus took advantage of the opportunity by disappearing into thin air.

"No!" Vulture screamed. "What's wrong with you, Serena? You've never been like this! Please, calm down!"

"Slicing his face sent you into another world," Jupiter responded. "It's like you...you had no fear at all!"

"I was right," Venus added. "That...it scared me."

"Besides," Vulture continued, "it's not here!"

"What?" Mars exclaimed. "How can the crystal not be here?"

"Look at it! It _was_ here, but I think someone got here before we did!"

The Sailors, with Vulture helping Sailor Moon walk because of her emotional state, approached the niche. There was a small hole in the ground about two feet down, just big enough to hold a small gem or jewel. There were letters near it that read "HIZROUNSWA". The hole, however, was completely hollow, void of any crystal.

"That doesn't make any damn bit of sense!" Mars gasped. "The gods killed anyone that wasn't able to get past this room. They protected the crystal with their lives and then some. How the hell can it not be here?"

"Who moved it?" Jupiter asked.

"Whoever it was," Vulture answered, "they had to have some damn good skills to sneak past the gods to get it. What scares me, though, is that it obviously wasn't Rubeus! He's been beating his chest about his accomplishments lately, so he doesn't have it or else he would be flaunting it like nobody's business."

"Who else knows about it, then?" Venus asked.

"Or would want it? Something doesn't add up here!"

Sailor Moon, however, had other things on her mind. "I'm the one that puts my friends in danger, when I least realize it?"

Vulture turned to his sister with curiosity. "Sis?"

"I'm...the...one..."

"What are you talking about, Meatball-" Mars began, trying to get Moon's mind off of what just happened by calling her a familiar name.

"Oh, my God!" Moon loudly gasped. "AMY! She's in danger! Oh, my God, how the hell could I have forgotten about her?" She broke out of Vulture's arms and nervously paced between the elevator and circle rooms.

"I don't think we can sit here and debate why it's not here, then!" Jupiter answered. "She's right! We never got Amy to answer us!"

"There's no crystal here," Mars stated, "so that must mean something happened on her end if we couldn't get any connection to her!"

"I told her to go investigate the escape pod!" Moon cried. "She had to have found it and...Oh, my God! If anything happened to her..."

"Get a hold of yourself, Serena!" Venus commanded, walking over and putting her arms around her friend, making Moon stop her frantic pacing. '_You're an emotional wreck, my friend._'

Vulture took a picture of the empty hole that the Hizrounswa would've been in as quickly as he could with his Vulture device (he wanted to make sure that was out of the way), and then tried calling Mercury again. "Amy, it's Casto, Sailor Vulture! Do you need help? What happened? Did you find the pod?" There was no answer as he ceased connection. "You told me Darien had a communicator, right, sis?" Serena nodded. "I want to make sure it isn't just this pyramid that's blocking the connections."

"Hopefully it's just the gods not letting anyone use anything suspicious on their territory," Jupiter said while tending to Moon, as well.

"Darien, this is Sailor Vulture! Can you hear me?"

He waited a few seconds. Afterwards, a voice that would've normally give Serena a wide smile instead sent her into another panic attack.

"Yeah, Vulture," Darien responded, "I can hear you! Did you find the Hizrounswa?"

"No, we didn't, but neither did Rubeus!"

"It's gotta be..."

"Darien, there's something about it that seems weird, but I can't discuss it right now because we have another problem! We can't get any connection with Amy, and it's sending your girlfriend into panic attacks!"

"Where is she?"

"She's in the South Pole!" Mars replied. "That's where we suspected whatever Rubeus used to escape the UFO would've been. She went to investigate while the rest of us went to search for the crystal."

After a few beeps, Darien continued, "No, it's saying that it wasn't able to connect with her. It knows the Mercomp exists, but it's not available."

"She's in danger!" Moon screamed. "She's got to be!"

"We tried to get in touch with her earlier because we found Rubeus," Vulture added, "but she didn't respond. We thought it was the pyramid or the crystal causing the disruption."

"The pyramids wouldn't be able to block our connection," Darien concluded, "and the crystal isn't there. Whatever interference is causing the issue is coming from her end. I'll keep trying to call Amy! You better get out of there and get to the South Pole! I hope she's okay!"

"Already on it, man!" Vulture severed communication and looked up at his sister. "She'll be alright, sis."

"Rubeus knew!" Moon trembled. "He knew she was in danger!"

"We don't know that yet, Serena," Mars answered. "All we know is that she is somewhere that caused the interference. Could be all the snow making it hard to get anything."

"She has a point, though," Vulture said. "Rubeus did say those words as if he knew something we didn't!"

"Can we use the Sailor Transport in here?" Jupiter asked.

"We were able to do all that weird stuff with the Transport when my powers were added in place of Mercury's. Maybe it won't matter where we are." Vulture then approached his sister and put a hand on her shoulder. "If she's in danger, she's got the best people in the world protecting her. Nothing will happen to her, so help me."

"She has to hate me now!" Moon cried. "I sent her to die!"

"No, you didn't! She won't hate you!" Vulture looked to the girls. "She won't be any less of danger by us standing here talking about it!"

"Agreed!"

The others nodded as the group joined hands to form the Sailor Transport circle within the now aptly-named circle room. Both Vulture and Mars held Moon's hands during the process, and they both could feel her shaking. They both responded by holding her hands tighter.

"Jupiter Star Power!"

"Venus Star Power!"

"Mars Star Power!"

"Moon Crystal Power!"

"Vulture Medal Power!"

"Sailor Transport!"

Within seconds, the five disappeared completely from the circle room without a trace.

**-xXXXXx-**

The snowstorm was as harsh as it could be in the South Pole. Normal blizzards paled in comparison to what the Sailors had transported themselves to, though they had no choice but to completely ignore it. It was not only their Sailor powers, but also the new danger that stood in front of them that gave them the resistance to the weather.

"Amy!" Moon screamed. "Where are you?"

"She could be anywhere on this continent," Jupiter panicked. "We'll never find her."

Vulture, however, heard something very weird coming from his device. He opened it to find out what it was going crazy about.

"What's that?" Mars asked.

"It's Mercury's Mercomp thing," he answered. "My device must be linked to hers in some way. It's showing me where it last saw the computer being used, and at what time. It's like a network of some sorts. She was using it right here, she traveled some way, and then the signal died."

"No!" Moon gasped. "Please tell me she didn't..."

"No, just the signal died, I hope. It died about an hour ago, so whatever caused it to get cut off must've wanted to make sure she couldn't call for help."

"So it beeps whenever it finds the reminiscence of the Mercomp?" Venus said. "Sounds like one smart device."

"No, that's not what it's beeping for. I only noticed the network thing when checking the beep. Apparently the sound is telling of a current device being used, a very strong signal," Vulture paused for a hard gasp before continuing, "to the south, exactly where Mercury's Mercomp signal died!"

"_She found the pod!_" Mars yelled. "That's got to be what's causing the interference!"

They ran south for a few minutes, trying to locate the source of the signal that they realized was the escape pod. They followed the entire path that Vulture's device painted for them, the drive to rescue Amy from the danger she was in being the only thing giving them strength at this point as they would've been out of breath any other way.

The Sailors suddenly stopped as they found a large spherical object in an ice ditch. It was the same thing that Mercury had found, and the same one that Moon had seen in the picture on the web site.

"That's the source," Vulture stated. The beeping on his device was going crazy, and the path showed that the spot was where the Mercomp's signal ceased.

"No way!" Jupiter gasped.

"There's no way in," Mars noticed.

"Amy!" Moon cried. "Amy, what happened?"

Inside the pod, Amy suddenly heard familiar voices. This had to be some hallucination. They suddenly were showing up right when she was about to die? She didn't even care if it was just a figment of her imagination at this point, and she shot up to the door and pounded on it with whatever strength she had left.

"I'm in here!" she screamed to the best that her remaining voice could allow. "Please, get me out! I don't want to-"

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWO MINUTES!"

The other Sailors outside the pod heard the sudden pounding on the metal, coming from within. However, the computer voice could only be heard from within, thus they did not realize the immediate danger. Not yet, anyway.

"It's her!" Venus exclaimed. "Amy's trapped in the pod!"

"That must be why we couldn't get any connection!" Mars added. "The pod must be blocking anything she tries to send!"

"Amy," Moon yelled, "we're gonna get you out of there, so..."

"Oh, my God!" Vulture gasped.

Moon looked at her brother. "_Now_ what?"

"It's picking up something about the pod. There's some mechanism running, as if it's counting down to something. It seems to be..." Vulture suddenly shot his eyes from the device to the pod, "We gotta get her out of there, _now_! That countdown is for a device that will blow up the pod! It only has two minutes left!"

"_AMY_!" Moon raced to the pod, jumping like a cat up to the top of the pod. She quickly found that there was a firm seam that indicated where the entrance was, though a solid black metal was now blocking any access. She tried everything she could to open the door, from kicking it downward to using her Tiara to bang it loose. Anything that she found, practical or not, she was using to try to pry the door open, but it did not budge.

"Serena!" she heard Amy yell out.

"No, this can't be happening! It just can't be happening!"

"DANGER! SELF-DESTRUCT IN ONE MINUTE THIRTY SECONDS! PLEASE GET AT LEAST FIFTY FEET AWAY FROM ESCAPE MECHANISM NOW! REPEAT, DANGER! SELF-DESTRUCT IN ONE MINUTE, TWENTY SECONDS!"

This time, Sailor Moon heard the announcement from within, if only barely. "A minute and twenty left! I'm so sorry, Amy! C'mon, you damn Tiara! _Work_!"

"Sailor Moon, get back!" Vulture commanded. Moon looked over to see Vulture and the rest of the Sailors waiting to use their powers. Vulture continued, "We'll try breaking the thing off!"

"Amy!" Moon yelled out. "Stand away from the door! We're going to try blasting it off!"

Amy did not object as she laid trust in their plan. Moon did the same, jumping off of the pod.

"Mars Fire! Ignite!"

"Venus Crescent Beam! Smash!"

"Jupiter Thunder Bolt! Crash!"

"Vulture! Attack!"

The fire ignited the shadow vulture, which was given light and speed from the beam that was circled in the thunder. It created an awesome sight, and it collided dead on with the door. It did what they had intended...sort of. It only dented the door slightly. It wasn't completely successful, but now at least it gave them a fighting chance to get her out of there.

"DANGER CODE RED! SELF-DESTRUCT IN ONE MINUTE! REPEAT! CODE RED! SELF-DESTRUCT IN ONE MINUTE!"

This time, with the door having been dented, everyone heard the call loud and clear. Especially Vulture, who panicked upon hearing it. "We don't have enough time!" With all the speed he could muster, he raced to the pod and jumped onto it, not giving the other Sailors a chance to react. He found that the door was dented enough that he could get his hands onto the sides of the door. He also found that whatever was holding the door in place was severely weakened, so much that any excessive force could probably snap it off.

"Sis, be ready to get her out!" Vulture pulled on the door with all the strength he had. He only believed that it wouldn't take as much strength as it did. His palms were sweating, his muscles were pulling, and his sounds were of pain and agony. However, he felt the door snap, but it wasn't without a price as the force of the snap tossed him completely off of the pod, with the heavy door dropping right on his chest cavity. It was an experience he would've gladly done without as he screamed in pain. Mars, Venus, and Jupiter all raced to help their male Sailor friend get the behemoth door off of his chest.

Meanwhile, Sailor Moon heeded Vulture's command to get Amy out of the pod. She immediately jumped back on top of it and stretched out her hand for her friend. "Amy, c'mon!"

"S-Serena," Amy softly answered, incapable of even yelling anymore.

"Amy," Moon cried, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please, _please_ forgive me!"

Amy did not object to the help, letting her friend help her out of the pod. As Moon helped her out, she noticed that Amy's Mercomp was on the dash of the pod. Moon knew then that the situation had taken a toll on Amy's psyche: she never forgot anything like that, especially something as important as the computer she carried around. Luckily, Moon was able to quickly snatch the Mercomp and the related cables up before helping Mercury out and off of the pod.

As the other Sailors were able to remove the door from Vulture's chest, they all heard the frightening call: "SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWENTY SECONDS!"

With no other words and with Vulture back on his feet (with the Sailors' assistance), the group began fleeing from the pod. There was no time for a transport that would finish in time, so their only option was on foot, trying to run to where they would be safe from the impending explosion. However, even that was proving to be a chore, as not only the snow and ice but also the addition of an incapacitated Sailor being in tow was hampering their efforts.

"We'll never make it!" Mars screamed.

"Fifty feet!" Moon recalled. "We can't even get ten in this damn snow!"

Vulture stopped and turned back around towards the pod, however. He dropped his hands to his sides, not moving a muscle.

"Casto, no!" Jupiter ordered. "C'mon!"

The voice counted down from ten! He didn't move at all, and the Sailors, now stopped dead, were questioning what he was thinking.

Moon could not believe what she was seeing. "Please, brother, let's go!"

It was at five seconds left that he held his arms outright in front of him. His eyes narrowed, but his stance never faltered. He never said a word as the countdown went to three; two; one. Then it happened: the explosion, sweeping out like a large dust cloud. Only this was of orange and yellow, and it could've killed all of them in an instant.

However, just when he heard the explosion happen, Vulture had screamed, "Vulture Shield!" With his arms still outstretched, the huge vulture wings encased the Sailors, and they were being protected from the danger that was surrounding them. Ice was flying around as well as blasted snow. Vulture could be heard groaning through the effort to keep the Vulture Shield deployed. His muscles were straining, as well as his eyes as they quivered with him trying to withstand the force of the blast.

Just before the danger had passed, the Vulture Shield could no longer withstand such a force as it gave way. Sailor Vulture was tossed up and over the rest of the Sailors, colliding on the ice a foot away. What made matters worse was that he was not moving afterwards, which was what horrified his sister.

"Casto!" Moon screamed. Not only did she now see someone else she cared about being injured, possibly dead, at the hands of Rubeus, but she now was faced with who was in greater danger and who needed her help more. She was still tending to Amy, who was psychologically scarred, and whom she didn't want to just leave there. At the same time, however, Casto was her family, and the more she was around him, the more her sentimental feelings for him resurfaced. She couldn't tend to one without it being a detriment to the other. While she felt that her blood family was more important than a friend under normal circumstances, this wasn't normal, and her friends _were_ her family. She had to think quickly of what to do.

"Raye," Moon yelled out, "look after her for a moment!" Mars nodded as she came in to assist Mercury. Moon got back to her feet and raced over to tend to Vulture, who still wasn't moving. This was the only way: to ask someone she trusted to tend to Mercury while she tried to revive her brother. Raye was the one she especially trusted with her life, especially during this week of personal tragedy, though she would never admit it to anyone. Nonetheless, Moon's only other thought at the moment was the person who she fell to her knees to tend to once she got to him.

"Casto!" Moon cried out. "Please, wake up! _Damn it, wake up! _C'mon, bro, you can't leave me here again! I won't let you!"

She could feel uncontrollable emotions overtake her as she continued to shed tears. However, more than that, she was also feeling her memories resurface from the sight of Casto unconscious on the ground. She was told that it was only the physical memories that were resurfaced as a result of the super mind meld and not the emotional connections. However, at this moment, while she laid Casto's hands on her own did she feel them come out. It was the exact same feelings that she had felt when he left the Moon Kingdom that faithful day. She was not only convinced now that this was her brother, but that she cared for him and loved him deeply.

"Is he going to be alright?" Mercury asked.

"I don't know. I sense a pulse, so he's still alive, but he isn't moving."

"Not moving doesn't mean I'm dead," Moon heard a comforting male voice say. She looked down to see that Vulture had regained consciousness. His eyes were open, but he still could not move anything else. "I feel like I was just hit by a bull, though!"

"Serena," Jupiter interrupted, "I hate to be the one to say this, but I don't think any of us want to stay here anymore than we have to. We're going to have to get back."

"Yeah, I agree completely," Moon answered. "But Casto can't move. I don't think he can help us transport."

"I'll do it," Amy called out.

"You sure, Amy? I don't want to put you though anymore..."

"I'm sure. I think I'm alright now. Just needed to get my bearings back."

Moon sighed heavily. She still felt guilty about sending her here to begin with. She didn't want to have her need to do anything else but to get some rest. However, she knew there was also no other choice, and they knew their resistance to the cold wouldn't help them for much longer, especially in the harsh conditions of the South Pole. She rose to her feet once more, and slowly, all of the Sailors got into position for the Sailor Transport. It would be the third time this day that they would need the power, something that they were warned about earlier by the cats as being overexertion of their powers. However, they only needed it this last time to get themselves back to Juuban.

They all clasped hands, Moon looking over at Mercury, believing the worst of their friendship. They were surrounding Casto, who was still on his back and trying to move somewhat, though it wasn't without sharp pain. The Sailors didn't waste any time beginning the Transport.

"Jupiter Star Power!"

"Venus Star Power!"

"Mars Star Power!"

"Mercury Star Power!"

"Moon Crystal Power!"

"Sailor Transport!"

The entire group once more vanished, leaving nothing but their footprints behind in the snow.

**-xXXXXx-**

The transport worked to perfection once more. They were back in front of the Hikawa Shine, with the girls and Casto all happy to be in much calmer weather, although it was nighttime. Sailor Moon would take the full moon that had now shone on Juuban to the blizzard that was in the South Pole or the heat wave in the Egyptian Desert.

However, she didn't see this as any time to celebrate. There were a lot of issues that she needed to think about right now, the first being to get Casto back into the shrine so he could get some rest.

"C'mon, Casto," Moon said as she put Casto's arm around her. "I won't let you go at all."

"Thanks, sis!" Vulture groaned through his pain. The six made their way into the Shrine and transformed back once the door was closed.

**-xXXXXx-**

Amy was sitting alone in one of the small bedrooms of the Shrine. It wasn't much of one, but just somewhere where a guest could get some sleep if they needed a place to stay. She only looked out at the window towards the night sky, wondering about what had happened to her today. There was a lot in her mind, and there was too much that she was telling herself in the confines of the escape pod that she was locked in for an hour while wondering if she was going to die or not.

"Can I come in?" she heard Serena ask. Did Amy really want to talk to her right now? She wasn't too happy with her, and she could've told her off right then and there about sending her to her death bed in the condition that she was in. However, at the same time, she knew she needed to hear an explanation, and this was the best time to get one.

"Yeah, I guess so." Amy's voice showed discontent with her company that Serena noticed.

"Amy, I-I don't know what to say."

"How about telling me why you wanted me to go out in the freezing cold for your selfish ways, Serena?"

Serena sighed at the question. "I was afraid you would ask that!"

Amy rose to her feet and turned around, looking Serena dead in the eye. "Why? Because you would have to answer it? I trusted you to protect all of us, and instead, you tell me to go and investigate something that we didn't know was even there! You knew it was going to be cold, and you let me go anyway!"

"You were the one that told me you wanted to go and help me!"

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't know if I wanted to! In truth, I didn't think you were that selfish! I was hoping you would force me to come with you! The pod could've waited, Serena! The crystal was our top priority, yet you would rather do in Rubeus than protect this world, would you?"

Serena could not believe the words coming out of her friend's mouth. "N-No, that's not it, Amy! I want to protect my family, yes, but you all are my family!"

"Bullsh..." Amy began to say before biting her tongue. She had never used such language before, and she wasn't about to now. "I mean, I know they're important to you, but you didn't care to hear that Rubeus needed your mother alive! You're so reckless anymore, and it's bothering me! I thought I would be glad to see this side of you, but I hate you for what you're doing to us as a team!"

"So you hate me, like I thought you would, is that it?"

Serena approached Amy, trying not to get too close as she didn't know how Amy would react.

"Amy, I understand if you hate me. I didn't know you were in any danger. We found Rubeus in the pyramid, but when we went to contact you, there was nothing but static."

"I heard your voices! How can you say that you didn't hear me?"

"No one did. Casto tried, too, and he couldn't get an answer! We thought it was just interference from the crystal!"

"I yelled and yelled for anyone to hear me, but there was nothing. It was like you all were ignoring me." Amy sat back down and stared at the sky again.

"No, we weren't! We tried again later on, and I nearly..." she paused, only now realizing her own anger towards Rubeus, "...I nearly killed him, Amy!"

Amy turned herself around to face Serena, putting her back against the wall underneath the window. "What do you mean?"

"I...nearly pierced his throat with my Tiara, and that was only after I left a huge gash on his face that he may never be able to get rid of."

Amy gasped. "Oh, my God!"

"I...have never done that to anyone, never wanted to do that to anyone. And..." Serena began to feel tears in her eyes, "he said that I was the one that put my friends in danger. It reminded me of you. My God, Amy, if you had any idea how I felt when I remembered not being able to contact you. I never want to feel like that again."

Amy hung her head. "Did you...find it?'

"We found where it was kept, but someone moved it. We're trying to find out how it was moved without the gods' knowledge. They literally guarded the place with their souls. Casto's showing Luna and Artemis the photos he got now. I had to come in here because I was so worried that you hated me for what I did."

"Serena, I...I'm just..." Amy didn't know what to say anymore. She knew she didn't mean the words she was speaking. "It's probably because I was in that thing for way too long. I said things I probably should've never said in there."

"Like you hating me?"

"Yeah, but I said something else that I'm going to have to live with for the rest of my life. I'm sorry, Serena."

"Amy, it's alright. I know you're angry with me, I'm angry with myself for putting you there. It should've been me! I should've gone to investigate!"

"No, I wouldn't want you to go!"

"You're right, though, Amy!"

"What's that?"

Serena sighed. "I've become reckless. I told you, I don't like this side of me. I've never been so angry before. Every time I think I got Rubeus where I want him, I find out he's got another friend of mine. If anything happened to you, Amy, I don't know if I would've been able to hold myself back."

"Serena, don't feel guilty!" Amy stood up again, and this time, it was her that approached Serena. "I should be the one feeling guilty for saying that you're being selfish for wanting to avenge your family. I would be doing the same thing if it was my mother."

"It's the psychological breakdown you had that is causing you to think like that. You need some rest." Serena started to walk out of the door.

"Serena, where are you going? I didn't..."

"It's not you, Amy. It's me. I've been thinking about this for a while, ever since I found my house smeared in blood. I think it's time I did something I thought I would never do."

Amy saw Serena grab her Moon Locket and pull it off of her, only clenching it in her hand. Amy couldn't say anything to her friend, as Serena was walking right out of the door.

"Serena, please, I'm sorry. I forgive you. What are you doing?"

**-xXXXXx-**

"It didn't make any sense," Raye told Luna and Artemis about the absence of the Hizrounswa in the pyramid. She was surrounded by the cats and her friends (minus Amy and Serena) around the table.

"Still can't get over the fact that you were facing zombies and the living dead," Luna said. "I don't think I would have the nerve to face anything like that."

"They were the gods," Casto replied. "They were trying to keep people from getting down into the depths of the temple."

"Now we have to find out who was able to outsmart..." Artemis began to say.

He was interrupted by Serena dropping her Moon Locket in the center of the table, a loud thud echoing through the Shrine. Casto looked upon the locket as it bounced once before becoming still, while the thud startled Mina. All of them eventually looked to Serena puzzled.

"Serena?" Casto asked.

"I've made a decision," Serena answered. "I can't do this right now."

Luna eyes narrowed. "No, Serena! This isn't the time to quit!"

"I'm not quitting, Luna! It's just...I'm not going to be any help to anyone if all I'm going to do is to let my anger get to me. I need some time to myself, and the best way to do that is to give this up for now."

"But your mother is out there needing you right now," Raye said.

"I know that. And I want to rescue her. But Amy is right. Rubeus wants the Hizrounswa, and she'll be alive until he finds it. She'll be better off being rescued by someone who has their head on straight rather than someone as selfish as I've been lately."

"You're not selfish by wanting to save your family," Mina responded.

"I've made up my mind, guys. I'm sorry. I know I'm a coward for making this decision. I trust all of you to make the right decision. Just don't come looking for me. I need some time. Alone." Serena had no other words as she slipped her shoes on and went out the door.

"Serena," Lita yelled. "You're right. You are a coward! You're running away again!"

"Lita, it's no use," they all heard Amy say as she now entered the room.

"Amy?"

"It's my fault. I told her she was selfish."

"You know she isn't," Luna answered.

"I know that, but I let what happened to me in the pod get to me, and I went off on her when I had no right."

Raye didn't wait to hear any more as she raced outside to try to catch Serena.

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena was down the steps of the Shrine and onto the sidewalk when she heard Raye yell out, "Serena, wait!"

Serena turned around, seeing Raye already right behind her as she passed a phone booth. "Raye, I thought I said not to..."

"Screw what you said! I can't believe you're running away from your problems! All that praise we've been giving you and you're going to just quit?"

"I told all of you, I'm not quitting. I'll come back."

"But your mother needs you. How the hell can you...?"

Serena pivoted to look directly at Raye. "Raye, I'm sorry! I've made some stupid decisions, and I've put all of you at risk because of my obsession with revenge. I don't want to quit. I do want to take Rubeus out. But I'm no help to my mother if I'm going to be this obsessed with taking him out. I know how you feel about this decision, and I don't intend on quitting. There's just too much on my mind right now, Raye."

"The same with all of us, though."

"I almost killed a man in cold blood tonight, Raye. That's one of the reasons why I'm stepping aside. If I don't take this breather, I'll do something that I'll regret for the rest of my life." She then put a hand on Raye's shoulder. "I trust you so much, and I know you'll keep that crystal safe for me."

Raye sighed and nodded. "Yeah, sister. I understand. I just wish it didn't have to come to this. We all love you, Serena. We need you here!"

"I know you do, and that's why I need this time. Trust me, I don't want to do this, but I have to. I'm sorry, Raye!"

"Just promise you'll come back for us! For your mother, for your brother! For me!"

Serena responded by hugging Raye tightly, Raye having no problem with returning the favor.

"I promise, Raye! I would never just run away from something this important!" Serena ended the embrace by kissing Raye on the forehead. Without anymore words, Serena turned around and walked away without a look back. Raye fought off her own tears as she walked back up the stairs to the Shrine.

However, as she got to the top of the steps, Mina and Lita were there to greet her.

"What happened?" Mina asked.

"She's got a lot on her mind right now," Raye answered.

"Is she really quitting?" Lita questioned.

"No, I don't think so. She has her reasons for doing what she's doing. It's just something she feels she has to do before she faces Rubeus again."

"Maybe we should call Darien and tell him what just happened," Mina suggested.

"No!" Raye sighed. "I'm going to respect her wishes. She wants to be completely alone for now, and she didn't want anyone searching for her. He definitely will look for her if we told him she left. This is something she's has to get off her mind." She then thought, '_I want you to come back though, Serena. We're not the same group without you._'

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena didn't stop at the hospital to see Darien or to check on any of her family. She knew they would be alright, and she knew she could trust the man she had asked to protect them while she faced Rubeus. She needed the alone time, but she did go to the one place where she knew she wouldn't be bothered. She didn't want him with her right now, either.

As she went inside the apartment building, the same one that Darien's apartment was in, she headed straight for the rooftop. There was no one to stop her as everyone was asleep right now, and that only gave her more relief. She eventually found the stairwell that led outside on the roof of the fifty story complex. She knew she could get a clear view of the skyline from here. She looked straight ahead, the chirping of crickets and the occasional vehicle being the only sounds that could be heard, her hands gripping the railing tightly.

'"Mother," she said, "I'm sorry you have to be there alone with that cold-hearted man. It's my fault. All my fault. If I just told you sooner that I was Sailor Moon, if we just knew that Rubeus was still alive, if I was at home then! None of this would be happening right now if it wasn't for me!" She gripped the railing tighter, so much so that she felt part of it creak a bit.

"Amy, I never meant to leave you there. I never wanted you to hate me; I never wanted you to not trust me. I made a decision without thinking, like I always have done. My entire life my goal was to just be normal, but I know now that it'll never be normal. I wished for a chance for it to be not normal, and look what I get! Yeah, this is real funny what you higher powers did for me. You're probably laughing it up now! I ask for the chance to be Sailor Moon one more time and you give me Rubeus and his sick game that he never stops playing! I hope you can forgive me, Amy! I couldn't stand you hating me! I would do anything to make sure that never happens again!

"Casto, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you. I love you, and I hated to see you leave the Moon Kingdom. I didn't have the memory of you, but you laying there scared me. I didn't know if you had survived. You...you didn't have to do what you did to save any of us. I need you to give me strength one more time. I need you to keep me in line and to keep me sane.

"I'm completely blowing my boyfriend off, telling him not to help me, and to just stay there at the hospital as one damn afterthought. I can't stand hurting him, I really can't. Before it was him that was in pain from hurting me. Yeah, gods, how about that? You're very good at turning the damn tables on me, are you? Now it's me doing the same thing to him."

Serena felt tears in her eyes, and with her now being alone, she had no intentions on fighting them off. "Sammy, I'm really sorry. I would gladly take your place. You're suffering the worst because of me. Everything that's happened is because I've been careless and stupid. I should've been in the ICU, I should be the one being blown off by her boyfriend, I should be the one being tied up like some dog, I should be the one that no one can recognize as their sister, I should be the one having a psychological breakdown and screaming that I hated those that sent me to a dangerous place, I should be the one trapped in an escape pod for an hour with a self-destruct timer running. I put everyone I care about in danger, all because I wanted to be Sailor Moon one last time. This isn't funny." She then screamed out, "You hear me, you no good bastard, good for shit gods? _This! Isn't! Funny!_"

She collapsed onto her knees, still holding the railing for what seemed like dear life, as she just cried. Everything that had happened in the week had taken its toll on her psyche. Yes, she needed this time to regroup her thoughts before she went off the deep end. She didn't care who heard her at this point. She needed to cry, and that she did. No one knew she was there, which was perfect for her. For about twenty minutes, all she could do was shed tears until she didn't have any more tears to shed. Her eyes were bloodshot, and as she looked at the Tokyo skyline again, she took a deep sigh. She fought to get back to her feet, and looked up at the full moon.

She knew who she was. She was Serena Sommers; Sailor Moon! Her only question was one that she had been asking herself for the past two months, and more frequently during the past week:

Who had she _become_?

* * *

There will be a few more chapters to this that I'm probably going to be doing before I begin the next series in this path to Deadworld. Believe me, this is just the beginning. And if you think Serena's brush with personal tragedy is done, you haven't seen anything yet.

Hit me up with your thoughts. And, as always, good night and good luck.


	6. Razor's Edge

BLINDED BY REVENGE  
CHAPTER 6  
Razor's Edge

Written by Darkpower  
Rating: 14 (Dialogue, Violence, Language)

* * *

He tried to get some sleep. He really did try. However, he found it impossible. Casto could only stare out of the Shrine window, looking at the morning sun beginning to rise. All that he could think about was what had happened the night before. His sister, Serena, had thrown her Moon Locket on the table and said that she could not continue under the present circumstances. He never knew his sister for being a quitter. He did know, however, that she was an emotional wreck. It was obvious who was to blame for the turmoil that had befallen her recently-Rubeus-but he knew she blamed herself for all of it, though he couldn't for the life of him understand why.

He looked to the other Sailors, the ones who had now accepted him as one of their own, as Sailor Vulture. They were asleep, or at least that was what it looked like to him. He wondered if they were only keeping their eyes closed because they knew he was still wide awake, or if they even cared. If it wasn't for that mind meld to show them the memories that were hidden within them, he would still be an unknown, newbie kid that had some weird powers of a bird which often resembled evil and death.

Casto looked over all the girls, and then his eyes shifted towards Amy. The girl who had been stuck in Rubeus' escape pod with a self-destruct mechanism in place. Amy was the girl who had gone off on Serena, and could have consequently made Serena's decision to take a break that much easier. He didn't know what was said in her room last night, but he did know that it had to have been devastating for his sister to hear.

Amy was also the girl who opened her eyes shortly after Casto looked at her. "W-Who's there?"

"Hmm?" Casto asked.

"C-Casto," she answered groggily.

"Can't get to sleep, either?" Casto crawled closer to Amy and sat beside her, his back onto the wall and his knees raised.

"Been in and out of sleep."

Casto sighed. He didn't know if he should ask her anything right now. She had it rough yesterday, and she seemed as though she was coming out of sleep right now. She was probably in no position to answer any questions.

"Did you get _any_ sleep, Casto?"

"No...been trying everything, but it's not helping. Been so worried about her."

Amy sat up from the floor where all the Sailors had made their beds for the night. "She surprised me. I didn't think she would do something like that, though I can understand why."

"I can't. She was never known as someone who would give up like that. She was so brave during all those fights with Rubeus, and I know she wants his head and all. Why just throw it all away now at the worst possible time?"

Amy was now the one who was sighing, heavily. She sat up with her back against the same wall Casto was leaning on. "It's probably my fault she's gone."

"What did you say to her?" The opportunity to ask presented itself. Lucky break for him.

"Say? More like yell without me thinking! I heard all of you guys talking, trying to contact me while I was in the pod, but when I spoke, no one was listening or able to hear me. It was like everyone was ignoring me. I hated that feeling, and I thought it was Serena's fault because she asked me to investigate."

"I see. You could hear us but we couldn't hear you. There was so much static on our communicators that we couldn't see or hear anything at all."

"I even called Darien, but I got no answer. I was living a nightmare, Casto. I never want to go through that again."

"Danger comes with the game, though, Ames. None of us can expect to be Sailors and not run into any bumps along the road, but I get your point. I didn't know you could hear us, either. I wish we had investigated further when we found nothing but static the first time."

"I know that now. I didn't know that she was having panic attacks, though. I actually had the nerve to say in the pod that she deserved what Rubeus did to her family. I had to bite my tongue before it came out. I didn't think."

"Yeah, that isn't like you. It was because you were in the confines of the pod, and you felt helpless so you thought of any release you could to combat or find a reason for the helplessness. You know you're in danger, but you can't do anything about it."

"Y—you're not angry that I would say those things, though? You're not blaming me for Serena walking out on us?"

"No, I'm not. From what I've seen from you, Amy, you're a kind person who cares so much for people. The fact that you feel so bad about something that no one else could hear besides you shows how gentle you are and how much you pride yourself on not making mistakes. Hell, I haven't even heard you swear yet."

Amy giggled slightly. "Why is that so surprising to you?"

"It's not, really. It's just something I'm not used to. Everyone I've been around seems to cuss like..." he paused, then said, "well, sailors." They both laughed at the obvious pun.

"Got a way with words, don't you?"

"Yeah. You'd be surprised at some of the things that have come out of my mouth, believe me."

She smiled and sighed, "Thanks, Casto. I needed that."

"No problem." He sighed, looking out at the window again.

"The hell's all that racket?" they suddenly heard Raye say. Casto and Amy both looked over to see Raye waking up, more than likely due to the conversation being held.

"Raye." Amy smiled. "I didn't know we were that loud."

"No, you weren't. I was just trying to get back to sleep when I heard you two talking about Serena and cursing."

"Yeah," Casto answered. "Amy was scared that she made Serena quit."

Raye's eyes widened. "No, you didn't, Amy. She isn't quitting, either. She's just taking a bit of a breather. She wants to collect her thoughts before she tries again, and the only way she believes she can do that is to take away the temptation to use that power until she's ready to face him again."

Casto nodded and sighed. "I wish there was something I could say to her to help her out."

"I don't think Amy's words, whatever they might've been, made Serena decide on it. It was everything else that she has gone though."

Casto stood up and walked into the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"To get dressed. I don't think the school will be closed for any more than a few days."

"My God," Raye gasped softly, "and I don't know where Serena went to. We won't know if she is actually going to go or not. I tried to stop her from going the day after her family was attacked. She said she had the feeling that she would miss something very important if she didn't go that day. In fact," Raye added, "I think that was the day she met you, Casto."

Casto stopped in his tracks, recalling the entire situation with him slipping that note in class, Serena nearly choking him to death, and not believing a word about him being her brother. That was in the past, of course, but he couldn't help but believe that there was some other force at work. Maybe she was lying about not having any memory of him before the mind meld.

"She'll probably go, actually," Casto answered. "The way you've described her fascination with letting school be an escape from her problems could hold true now. Hopefully I can talk to her then, where she has no choice but to speak to me." He then made his way towards the bathroom for a shower.

"Amy," Raye said once Casto was out of the room, "the past is the past. You can't let what you've said bring you down. As I've tried to tell Serena, it's important to learn from the mistakes you made, and to never make them again."

"Raye, I'm sorry, but it's something that I would have to talk to Serena about before I could forgive myself for what I said."

"Do you forgive her?"

"Of course. She never did anything wrong."

'_If only you saw her in the pyramid_,' Raye thought, '_you wouldn't think that._'

**-xXXXXx-**

Rubeus was throwing anything that he could find that wasn't nailed down into the walls, doors, and windows, not caring if they broke. He was angry and then some. Through his entire tantrum, he also felt a sharp pain on his face. That scar that Sailor Moon made indeed hadn't gone away. He was a magical being, but that didn't necessarily mean he healed any better than a normal human. The cut had stopped bleeding, thought, and that was one of the few good points he could think of when it came to the scar.

A few minutes after throwing anything he could find at everything he could reach. Rubeus had vented long enough. Well, not quite, as he then punched a nearby wooden wall several times inside the small, one room cabin.

"Damn it!" Rubeus yelled. "Every single time, she's able to one up me! It can't be possible! My face is ruined! Completely ruined because of that meatball headed blond bitch! I'll get you yet, Sailor Moon!" He stopped punching the wall, breathing heavily. "No matter, though. You had no idea I was still there when your brother said that the Hizrounswa wasn't there anymore!"

His anger turned quickly to wonder. "But if the crystal wasn't there, who has it now?"

He walked downstairs into the basement of the cabin, where Ikuko was still tied to the pipe. She had heeded the warning well and hardly moved. In fact, as Rubeus looked towards her, she had fallen asleep.

"Hey, sleepy eyes, wake up!" he yelled in Ikuko's ear. It startled her, making her wake up easily and immediately.

"What now?" Ikuko weakly said.

Rubeus chuckled as he skipped and jumped around the bound Ikuko. "What now? _What now_? Oh, you are a trip to talk to, aren't you?" He stopped hopping around her and got right into her face, pointing to the scar. "See this face? _See it_? _That_, is what's now! Your daughter caused this! She took her tiara, and aimed right for me. Not only is this face forever ruined now, but I also lost quite a few pints in the process! But, I suppose being the Mother of the Damn Year that you are, you would condone it, correct?"

Ikuko smiled at his misfortune. "You know she isn't one to take things lightly!"

"I know she isn't, miss! Where the hell have you been? Oh, wait, I know where you've been! You've been blind! Not being able to see the truth about her! She was about to kill me with that tiara, dear mother! How does that make you feel to know that you mothered a damn cold-blooded murderer?"

"You should be grateful that I'm tied to this thing, or else I would've helped her, Rubeus!"

"Yeah," Rubeus said, turning his back to her and walking to the table in the center of the basement, "I guess you're right. You would be so vicious. I mean, look what you've raised. She had to have learned her violent tendencies from somewhere, right?"

"I didn't teach her to be violent, mind you? But if that's how she feels about you, then I can't help that."

Rubeus ignored her words, looking at the pages of the book that told of the Hizrounswa. "You're somewhere in this world, you stupid crystal!"

"How do you even know it exists?"

"The gods hid it there. I know it. It's not even there anymore. Someone was able to circumvent all of the gods' defenses to get to the crystal. Whoever did that must've been a stinkin' genius."

"You don't think it's her brother that has it anymore?"

"No, he insists he doesn't-" Rubeus paused. "Wait a minute, why do you even care? Why am I even talking to you at all? You're my toy, and that's all that there is to it!"

"I might as well make the most of it, right, Rubeus? My daughter completely has your number!"

"Right, right, and you know what happens if something were to happen to you, right?"

Ikuko rolled her eyes. "My son dies, I know, you don't have to tell me. Not like he's exactly a cakewalk to deal with, anyway."

"Like your daughter's any better, miss! How many tests has she probably flunked because of her being Sailor Moon, huh?"

"What business is that to you?"

"It's Serena, the Queen of Boneheads! You don't think she'd pick her other life over her family life?"

"If she really was a bonehead, she would have never given you that pretty scar on your face! Looks nice on you, actually!"

Rubeus had enough after that remark. He ran over to Ikuko and slapped her across the face once more. However, this time, Ikuko braced herself. She knew what she was getting herself into, and she halfway smiled as she was being hit.

"Now, _shut up_! The crystal is on this Earth somewhere, and if Casto doesn't have it, nor do the gods, it had to have been someone else! Something like that doesn't just vanish!"

Ikuko, however, looked right in his eyes and smiled. "If that's the hardest you can hit me, then you have no chance against my daughter. I'd hate to see how you can find your own sanity at that rate, let alone the crystal!"

Rubeus was about to really let her have it. He didn't even know where this new attitude in Ikuko was coming from. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was scared out of her wits? Now she was back talking him and enjoying the fact that she could get under his skin.

"What's with you?" Rubeus screamed. "Why aren't you scared anymore?"

"Because I've figured you out, Rubeus. Normally someone who's captured would have their mouth taped shut. You didn't do that to me, so you obviously wanted me to keep you company. And you want me as your little ace in the hole, so as long as you have to find the crystal and as long as you want to make the Sailors look for whatever this thing is, you need me alive. If I die, then yeah, my son would die, not that Serena would just let you commit to that without a fight anyway. But you wouldn't have any way to make the Sailors get it for you. Which means, no Ikuko, no Hizrounswa! With that scar on your face, I can see that my daughter can take you on, and that must mean that if you tried to kill my son, she would take you out first. Which means, all I would have to do is to let you kill me, or kill myself, and you would be out of options."

Rubeus couldn't believe this. Ikuko was getting on his last nerve, but she did have a point. Serena had become a basket case as of late, and he would also be outnumbered, as well. Being able to kill her son wasn't guaranteed, and her death would mean there was no reason for the Sailors to find the Hizrounswa.

Ikuko smiled as Rubeus became flustered with the sudden realization. "I know you want to, Rubeus! Look at you, all flustered and hot headed! Go ahead, big man! You think you're so tough! Go ahead and kill me! Get it over with! You know I'm right! You're having loads of issues with trying to get rid of her! How can you expect her to let you kill my son if you tried, and how can you expect to win over her?"

"You shut the hell up!"

"No, Rubeus, you can't shut me up because you need me! C'mon, Rubeus, I'm begging you! Shoot me, damn it!" Rubeus responded by putting both of his hands onto her throat. "Oh, so you're going to choke me, is that it? Is that all you got? How about that shot to the heart you said you would give me if any of her friends moved in the hospital! You really think a macho man like you is going to be all big and tough with just choking me to death? Ha, you haven't even tightened your grip enough to even start cutting off the air from my lungs!"

'_What is this? What is she trying to do? Could it be my scar that's making her see weakness in me?_'

"I'm going to ask you one more time and then I'm really gonna be pissed! Kill me, Rubeus! Do your worst! Shoot me, strangle me, dismember me, do _something_! Goddamn it, do anything you want to do to me, you sick, sorry, disgusting, ugly little piece of _shit_!"

She fired a huge wad of spit right into Rubeus' face. Rubeus relinquished the hold in order to wipe the saliva from his eyes and cheek. His anger was building rapidly, but he knew that was exactly what she was trying to get him to do. He was at a loss to know what the point of all of this was. This sweet, innocent mother was firing off threat after idle threat, and trying to insult him to the point of no return. His fist balled up tightly, and he had every intention on punching this woman in the mouth, several times. However, something was stopping him. Maybe Rubeus actually did have a conscious, or maybe he knew that Ikuko was right and that she was sacrificing herself in order to keep him from getting the crystal. Whatever the reason, he wrestled with the decision several times over in a matter of seconds.

"And you know what will happen if you tape my mouth shut! I'll just try to kill myself, and that also means no crystal! What are you gonna do, Rubeus? You didn't think I was that willing to make you suffer, now did you?"

Rubeus hissed, trying to think of something to say to this woman. Finally, he just growled loudly and disappeared. Ikuko was laughing up a storm, but at the same time, she was somewhat confused. She didn't know where she was getting this newfound bravery, either. But one thing was for sure: she liked it!

**-xXXXXx-**

Rubeus reappeared in Juuban Park, where he immediately punched the bark of a tree.

"Damn it! Why was she doing that? She has no idea what I'm capable of! She doesn't know what she's getting her family into! That bitch suddenly became so brave and feisty!"

After another punch to the bark, however, Rubeus suddenly had a thought race through his mind that made him stop stiff. "She's right, though. If she dies, then I have no other way to force the Sailors to find the Hizrounswa for me. I can't kill her, or at least not until I get the crystal. She had to have seen the scar and thought that she could've had a chance to get to me. Maybe I can use that."

He smiled evilly as he disappeared once more.

**-xXXXXx-**

"So you're Serena's brother? Wow, I couldn't have guessed it in a million years." Miss Haruna was shocked by what Casto told her right before class started.

"Yeah," Casto answered, "it caught Serena off guard, too. She didn't know she had one herself."

"But how are you American while she's Japanese?"

Wow! Casto wasn't expecting that question. He had to think of some story rather quickly, and he knew it would be a rather ridiculous story no matter what he chose to say to her. He would have to let Serena know what he was about to tell his teacher as soon as he could to not get any inconsistencies.

"My mother was in a long distance relationship with an American army lieutenant," he said, hoping she would buy it, "and when she gave birth to me, sadly, she didn't have enough money at the time to take care of me, so she let my father have sole custody of me until she could get back onto her feet. Apparently she did that, but I came here with that knowledge in the hopes that I could find out why she didn't even contact me or tell me she was still alive."

"I see. But would that make you a half-brother?"

"She's a full sister to me, Miss Haruna. Really all that matters. I would like to be known as such, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind, Casto Sommers. I do feel for you, though! Having your mother need to give you up and then just forget you existed. Wow, I can't imagine how that must've been for you to handle."

"Well, it was the story I was told by my father, at least. I was still a baby when she made that decision."

"Hopefully, you'll be able to find out what happened and get some answers."

"Thanks, Miss Haruna." He then took his seat as class began, proud of his quick thinking. However, he looked to his left to find something missing: his sister.

Haruna saw the same thing five minutes later. Though she knew that Serena was often late, she was never _this_ late. "Casto?"

"Yes, Miss Haruna?"

"Speaking of your sister, where is she?"

"I wish I knew. She's been a wreck ever since the attack on her family. I think she's just taking that grievance day I was telling her she should take." Hopefully she would buy that lie, too. She sounded gullible enough, at least to him.

"I'll wait a few moments before I mark her as absent for the day. She's always had a knack for being late."

_'I don't think she'll get her detention slip this time, though._' Casto thought.

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena was actually in the most interesting of places: still on the roof of the apartment building that she was on last night to get some peace and quiet. She had stayed on the rooftop all night, falling asleep on the cold concrete. The morning sun didn't even wake her up until a bit after nine, when she finally opened her eyes to see a glaring yellow dot aiming right for her. She went from sleepy to squinting in less than a second, holding her hand to her eyes to block out the sun.

She raised her head to see the sky as blue as could be. She knew it was school day, but she could've cared less about that right now. She had a lot that she knew she had to do. The first thing she wanted to do was to see Sammy once more. According to Doctor Mesta, he was supposed to be released from the intensive care unit last night, but her emotions and her activities had kept her from seeing him when he was first released. Hopefully nothing had happened to him between when she had learned about the good fortune and now.

Serena rose to her feet, using her hand to massage the kinks in the back of her neck. It was one of the few times that she didn't have a pillow under her, and it was the only time that she slept on her back.

"Wh-What time is it?" Serena asked herself. "Did I really-?" She looked over the railing to see the world below. Cars were speeding along the roads, people in three piece suits, dresses, and with briefcases in their hands were walking along the sidewalks. The sound of drills being used for construction were heard along with the honking of car horns and birds chirping, and the wind was blowing her pigtails far into the distance. She closed her eyes to absorb the sights and sounds. She knew she couldn't stay on the roof forever if she wanted to resolve anything, but for the moment, she was trying to enjoy this peace.

'_Don't worry, mother_,' she thought, '_I'm not going to rest until you're home._'

**-xXXXXx-**

"She wasn't at school at all," Casto told the Sailors outside the Shrine, sitting on the porch.

"Yeah, _now_ she takes the grievance day," Raye snarled. "Though I can understand it. She doesn't want to be bothered right now, and I guess school's one of the bothers."

"Hey Mina," Lita asked, "wasn't it you who once said that Serena wasn't one of the people who wanted to be alone when they're upset?"

"Yeah, I remember saying that when Tuxedo Mask was taken by the Dark Kingdom. She was so distraught then."

"Then why the sudden change of attitude? Why is it that she's now wanting to be alone? She didn't even want Darien to be there."

"It's was because I said a lot of things that I shouldn't have," Amy answered. "I told her that I hated her because of what happened to me in the escape pod."

"Do you?" Raye asked.

"No, I don't. It was the craziness of being in that place that was talking. Of course I forgive her, and I would do anything for her. It was just that moment in time that got to me."

"Darien only disappeared on us and then was brainwashed," Artemis added. "This time she actually saw someone make her life chaos."

"What she did back in the pyramid scared me." Mina sighed. "I think that is the reason why she needed this time. To cool off her jets."

"That's bothering me, but for a different reason," Casto said. "Even if she did go through with it, even if we did let her, isn't Rubeus more resistant to stuff like that? Wouldn't a stab in his throat not kill him?"

"He's got magical powers, yes," Luna answered, "as well as an extended lifespan. But from what I've seen, if anyone would want to kill him like that, he would be like a normal human. If you got him in the right place, he could still die in a matter of seconds."

"I wouldn't want to find out either way," Lita added. "That was..."

Casto suddenly heard a loud beeping sound on his Vulture communicator. When he picked it up, he saw Darien on the other end. "Hey, Darien! What's up, man?"

"Have you seen Serena anywhere?" Darien asked.

"No," Raye answered. "She wasn't at school, and she hasn't been here today."

"I wanted to let her know that they did take Sammy out of the ICU. He's still hooked to machines, but it's only for monitoring things, not to keep him alive anymore. He sounds like he'll do fine, actually."

"That's a relief," Mina sighed heavily.

"Darien," Raye continued, "Serena wanted to be alone. She's been having some anger issues lately, and she wanted to have time to cool off before she resumed her Sailor duties. We have her Moon Locket right now, so it's safe."

Darien's eyes widened. "My God! And Rubeus is still looking for the Hizrounswa!"

Casto's hand came up to his head, gasping loudly. "Ah, shit! All this stuff with Serena needing a hiatus and I completely forgot about that half of it."

"Why? Something new happen?"

"I think we can-," Raye began to say.

She was stopped by Casto, however. "No, I think he should know. Darien, we found where the Hizrounswa was kept in the pyramid, but it was a weird sight. There was no crystal."

"My God!" Darien gasped. "Does Rubeus have it, then?"

"No! I know he doesn't. He's been flaunting all his so-called accomplishments. We would've never heard the end of it if he had it. We think someone managed to sneak in past the gods somehow and snatch it away without alerting them."

"Didn't make any sense to me," Raye added. "That place was guarded by the gods like no one's business. How anyone could not even get a peep out of them and nab that crystal is beyond me."

"Have to keep looking," Darien answered. "Rubeus is going to keep trying to find it."

"So will we!" Casto exclaimed.

"I'm worried, though," Luna chimed in. "If it wasn't in the pyramid that we all thought it would be in, and Rubeus doesn't have it, and if we don't have it, then who the heck _does_ have it?"

"Yeah," Lita agreed. "Who else would've wanted it?"

"The Dark Kingdom, I remember, wanted me to keep an eye out for it," Darien answered. "But that was some time ago and they never got their hands on it, thank God."

However, while the rest of the Sailors were talking, Casto suddenly remembered the hieroglyphic that he had seen right below the hole that the Hizrounswa should've been in: the vulture. The very sight of it on the wall gave him chills when he first laid his eyes on it. He was looking all around at the Sailors, breathing a bit heavier, and then blurted out, "Uh, Darien. I'm sorry, can we call you back? I don't feel so good."

Darien was a bit puzzled. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah, something I thought about just scared me. To death."

"You can tell us, Casto."

"Yeah, you can," Raye agreed. "We're your friends now, remember?"

Lita nodded and smiled. "I'm not wanting to kick down your teeth anymore, if that was what you were worried about."

"No! That's not it!" Casto tried to control his breathing. "It's just that I saw a hieroglyphic of a vulture right above that hole. It can't be just a coincidence that it was there."

"That must be why Rubeus thinks you have it," Darien answered. "Vultures were protectors to the gods. That and the book did say something about the gods needing to protect the nest like a vulture. Would make sense." He paused, then said, "Casto, you have no relation to the crystal, trust me."

Casto showed signs of an extremely small smile. "It's just that I had this freaky thought of if I actually did have the Hizrounswa's powers. I even had the weirdest thought that I might have been the Hizrounswa. Maybe I really died when I crashed and only have a memory when I'm really a crystal disguised as a human."

"Wow, Casto," Artemis laughed, "you don't fool around with your wild thoughts, do you?"

"You being a crystal?" Raye asked. "I would hope not. Forgive me, but that is really ridiculous to think."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Casto sighed in relief. "I guess my sister's absence is making me think all sorts of weird things."

Raye walked over to Casto and put an arm around him. "Don't worry, bud. We know you miss her. We all do."

"I miss her, too," Darien admitted. "I wish she was here right now. I need to hear her voice again."

"Darien, I'm serious this time: I'm going to call you back later on, alright?"

"Now what?"

"I'm worried about her. Really worried. I'm going to look for her." Before any of the other Sailors could react, he closed his communicator and walked down to the steps. Within seconds, he was gone.

"Oh no," Raye gasped. "He's making a terrible mistake." She began to race after him, hoping to catch him in time. However, before she ran down the stairs, she turned around to face the others. "Well, are you guys coming or not?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Raye heard the others shout in unison as they followed Raye down the steps.

However, before doing so, Amy went back into the Shrine and grabbed the Moon Locket. She didn't want to forget to guard it in case Rubeus knew they had left.

**-xXXXXx-**

The sun was beginning to set. Serena had been walking all over the place all day long. To the Crown Arcade, to which she only looked inside to see Andrew doing his daily work. She was half tempted to go inside, but decided against it. She then walked to Downtown Tokyo, staring up at the Tokyo Tower. The huge communication tower always fascinated her with how tall it was and how important its function was. She had always wanted to go into it and look at the city from up at the higher deck of the tower. Today was not the day, though. She even went to her school. It was closed by now, and all that was left were the workers that were trying their hardest to finish up the wiring for the future computer lab. She wondered if they would have to close the school a few other days because of the project, but then again, why did she care at this point?

Finally, she passed by a small set of apartments. The two story building had white paneling and doors, and stretched half a block long. She remembered who lived in one of the apartments: Miss Haruna. She would've been scolded to hell and back by her for skipping school if she knocked on the door for her company. She thought about doing just that, however, and a few moments more was all she needed to decide to walk to the front door of apartment 4B and knock. She recognized Miss Haruna's car sitting in the street, so she knew she was home. Would she catch her at a bad time, though? Would she get detention the next day for whatever the reason would be?

"Just a moment," Serena heard a familiar voice ring out. She had some time to run. This was time that she really couldn't afford to waste, although she didn't see this as time wasted. She was always offered Haruna's ear if she needed it, and this was one of those times. Haruna was the only person who didn't know what had gone on with Serena the past week.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Miss Haruna was staring right into the eyes of a very distraught young girl. "Serena? You alright?"

"Yeah, I think so," Serena answered, nervously looking around. "Can I...umm...come in for a moment?"

Haruna smiled, "Sure, of course. Come in." She moved out of the way.

As she walked in, Serena couldn't help but be amazed at how spacious this apartment was. It felt more like a town house than an apartment. There was a staircase that led upstairs to her right as she came in the door, which was carpeted with a soft blue fabric like the rest of her living room. A leather couch and loveseat were on the nearest white wall of the living room, and a small television in an oak entertainment stand sat on the opposite wall. Across the room was a sliding door that led to a patio, and a kitchen to the right of the sliding door. A table sat in between the kitchen counter and the opposite wall, just a few feet shy of the sliding door.

Serena replaced her street shoes with the blue slippers that Haruna had at the front door as her teacher closed the door behind them. "Sit down and let me know what's going on."

Serena sat on the leather couch and put her hands on her knees as she looked into Haruna's eyes. Those eyes were warm and inviting, one of the few times Serena had seen her like that. It was also one of the few times she had seen Haruna in an outfit other than what she wore to school. She was in a pink t-shirt with blue slacks, and Serena really wanted to know where she had bought the outfit, though that could wait.

As Haruna sat down beside Serena and folded her black-socked feet under her knees on the couch, she studied Serena's posture, telling that she was nervous and confused at the same time. "Serena, you can tell me."

"I don't know, Miss Haruna."

"Is this why you weren't at school today?"

Serena nodded. "Yeah. I...well.." She tried to find the words to describe what she was feeling in a way that wouldn't reveal her Sailor business to Haruna. "Have you ever been in a moment in your life where you find out that you're capable of doing things to people you've never thought you could do?"

"You mean like screaming at someone when you never screamed at anyone in your life?"

"Yeah! Exactly! I know who tried to kill my family, and I have the resources and the power to make sure he knows how I feel about what he did. It's just the length I wanted to go...Haruna, I wanted to kill him. I almost killed the man that nearly killed my little brother."

Haruna widened her eyes. '_Oh, my God!_' She bit her tongue, however, to vocalize anything as she let her pupil continue.

"My friends had to stop me. Thing is, I'm so scared about what I could do to someone. I never knew I was able to even think of killing anyone, much less capable of...oh God, Miss Haruna." Serena's eyes began to water. She tried to fight them from flowing, but Haruna saw her try.

"Serena, don't fight it. You don't have to here."

Serena wiped away a single tear from her cheek. "I didn't even know I was capable of this kind of anger. I don't know what to do."

"Everyone is capable of it. The difference is where the line is. Everyone has a breaking point. Some people can take a lot before they get to this point. I've had students that always resorted to violence to solve their problems. You've always kept your anger at a minimum. You've been angry, but you've always had a way to cope with it so you use it as a positive. That has always been one of the things I've been so proud of you for, Serena. Even with how often you've been late and how often I got you for it, you were never angry for very long, and you've always forgave me and always cared about me. In a way, I don't want to see you go after this year. I know I'm going to be missing you."

"I don't want to disappoint you now, Miss Haruna. I want to be able to control this side."

Haruna nodded. "You want to know something I don't think anyone else has ever known about me?"

"Sure!"

Haruna blushed. "Well, I have this guilty pleasure of reading comic books."

"No way! Raye has the same hobby."

"Probably not as obsessive as I've been. I collect books from all over the world. No one has ever seen them, and I don't think I'll ever show anyone. Anyway, there was one American comic book I remember reading that had a very good quote that I think applies to you, since you told me you have some power to do something about the shooter. I think...yeah, the quote was 'With great power, comes great responsibility.' You have power right now, but at the same time, you have to know where and when to use it, and how you use it. The decisions you make with that power will greatly affect not only your life, but the lives of so many others that you might not even realize you touch."

"Sounds like my problem. I have this power, but I've lost control of it. He's kidnapped my mother now."

"What the...?"

"He's been taunting me, too. He knows a lot about me, and he's trying to get me to snap. He put his hands on her, tried to kill her, hurt her, and all with me staring right at him."

Haruna had to fight to stop from vomiting. "This guy really needs to go to jail."

"Good news is that Sammy was going to be taken out of the ICU, but I haven't been able to visit there yet. I went to sleep on a rooftop of an apartment building. I had to get away from it all for a moment."

"Serena," Miss Haruna said, "if you need my help, you know where to find me. You can trust me, too, alright?" Serena nodded. "Remember, he's only trying to get at you. Don't let him win."

Miss Haruna followed by wrapping her arms around Serena, who returned the favor with a bit of sniffling to hold back the tears.

"Thanks, Miss Haruna."

Haruna looked into Serena's eyes, which were now a bit brighter. "Please, if you come to visit me again, call me Patricia."

Serena nodded with a smile. "Thanks, Pat!"

"I think your brother needs to see that smiling face of yours. We all miss that side of you, and I think you need some good news right now."

Serena sat up and opened the door, putting her street shoes back on.

Haruna rose to her feet soon after to see her out. "Remember, Serena. With great power, comes great responsibility."

"What comic is that from, anyway?"

"Can't remember. I know it was about this superhero that had the powers of a spider or something like that. I'd have to read them again. I have too many to remember everything about every one of them."

Serena smiled. "Your secret's safe with me, Patty!" She headed out the door and closed it behind her, Haruna sighing as her pupil left.

"I'll pray for you, Serena. I don't think I would be able to follow that advice if I were you. I don't know how you do it."

Outside, however, Serena's hands were tightly balled up. "Great power. Great responsibility. I should tell Rubeus that. Maybe that's what I'm doing. Depending too much on Sailor Moon to fight Serena's problems. I think I know what I have to do now."

**-xXXXXx-**

The sun was barely peaking out of the hills, the mixture of day and night creating an awesome reddish-orange sky across Tokyo. It was a sky that meant calm seas the next day, and Serena hoped things would be calm from here on.

She had every intention to go to the hospital to see Sammy and Darien. However, before she did, she wanted to look at the house one last time. It was the scene of the crime, and she thought that in order to calm her mind, she would have to remind herself of what had happened. She would also have to do the one thing she was able to do for anyone else who crossed her: forgive them. She was even able to do so for Queen Beryl, even though Beryl never had a chance to be told that or to realize it. She had yet to forgive Rubeus, and though she knew it would be so hard to do because of how personal the war between the two had gotten, there had to be some way to be able to forgive him. It would've given her an edge to go into a fight against him with a clear mind. She had never held a grudge in her life before now, and to her, it was time to let go of this one.

As she was walking to the house, Rubeus saw her, but he didn't confront her yet. He was in the air in between two buildings on the opposite side of the street, watching her every move. "So, you're returning to where I laid waste to your life, are you, Sailor Moon?"

He was studying her as she was walking, when he noticed something different about her: the Moon Locket. It was gone.

"Did she lose it? Did they demote her? My God, it finally happened. I knew Raye would sooner or later come through for me. The leader has been voted out of office. Ha ha! Now, Serena, let's see how good you are without Sailor Moon." He disappeared into thin air.

Serena shortly thereafter got to the archway that led into the yard. The house, still with no signs that anything was done to secure the inside, was still sporting the cracked windows and broken door. At least now Serena didn't have to hear the glass that she did the last few times she entered this house she now walked into. The blood that was on the walls was beginning to wear, a few plates had fallen and broke on the floor since the last time she was in here, and a few doors upstairs were still broken, as well. Without question, it was as horrific as it was when she had first found her house in this condition.

She walked upstairs and looked throughout the bedrooms. She noticed Sammy's room still opened, and the picture she was looking at before was now gone. '_Casto must've took it with him._'

She also looked in her own room. Surprisingly, it was spared. The alarm clock that she had bought was still working, and it was playing. She would never know how she hadn't heard it before when she was in here to look through the house the first time. The American music station was playing a rock song, though now the song she was hearing fit: Collective Soul's "The World I Know". Yes, the more she looked through this house and thought of her life recently, she knew for a fact that this was indeed the world she knew, or at least what she knew _now_. She looked at herself in the mirror and studied her eyes. They were eyes that were scarred, and told the story of an emotionally decimated young girl.

As she turned off the radio and unset the alarm (not until the song was over, though), Serena exited her room and walked right into her parents' bedroom. Blood was on the walls of this bedroom, too. She didn't know how she had missed it. The mirror to her left was broken, though she could still see herself in it, despite the cracks. Once more, she looked at herself, and then to the place on the floor where she had found her mother tending to her father. She could only remember the horror and panic she had felt that night. The huge red splotch on the floor (how had she not seen that, either?) only angered her more. She turned around to look at herself in the mirror. She could feel it again. She knew she had come here to try to get over it. She thought that maybe being exposed to the scene would force her anger, and she could find a way to control it long enough to be able to forgive. It was a technique she had learned back in elementary school's health class: exposure to what made you angry will force you to accept the reality of the situation and help the anger subside to a more bearable level. That was how she was able to forgive so many people in the past. However, it wasn't working this time. Her quivering lips that she saw in the mirror only proved that more.

She responded by taking the small dresser and throwing it onto the ground with a roar, the dresser banging loudly on the floor. She barely got out of its way, but she only collapsed to her knees and cried.

"I'm sorry, Patty!" Serena cried. "I can't! I can't do it! I can't forgive him! Not now! He's gone too far now!" She then grabbed one of her father's two aluminum baseball bats from the corner of the room and began to swing at anything she saw. The wall, the bedposts, the bed itself, the tipped-over dresser, even the stand-alone mirror. She was shedding tears uncontrollably, and she couldn't care less about how enraged she became at this point. The dresser became damaged to the point that a small hole was made on the back of it.

She would have continued had it not been for what that hole exposed. Inside one of the drawers was something she had never used before, though she knew how to use it: a nine-millimeter, black Baby Eagle semi-automatic pistol, complete with two magazines. She didn't know that they had this gun in the house. Maybe her mother never had a chance to get to it, much like she suspected her father never having the chance to get to the baseball bats before Rubeus struck him. She dropped the bat and reached into the hole to pull out the pistol plus the two magazines. She could tell from the weight of the magazines that they had yet to be used. Now if she could only remember how to fit the magazine into the pistol. She slid it into the base of the gun slowly, making sure it didn't go off while she was loading as she didn't know if the safety was on or off yet. She heard a loud _click_ telling her that the Eagle was loaded, and she pulled down on the back latch. Safety was on, now off, and she pointed it at the bare wall.

Something happened in her mind as she put her finger to the trigger. The pistol was a perfect fit in her hands. She knew how to handle it, she knew what to do with it, and she knew how to use it. Did she have to use something like this on the Moon, perhaps? Did Casto once show her how to use a gun before he left her? Whatever the reason, it just came to her like second nature. Her other hand steadied the trigger hand, and she pulled back. A loud gunshot filled the room, and a bullet hole was now in the wall. If anyone heard the gunshot outside, they didn't react to it (maybe her parents were right: sound didn't travel well in the house, and were nearly, if not completely, muted from the outside). Nonetheless, she knew she could work a gun, and realizing that, she grinned evilly. Could something so simple kill a man that used magic and showed a ton of resistance to her Sailor Moon magic? It was a question she was more than willing to answer.

She quickly put the safety back on, concealed the gun and the spare magazine into her blouse and headed outside, where the night sky was taking over Juuban. She hadn't but taken a few steps when she saw Rubeus appear right in front of her.

"So, Serena, you came back!" Rubeus smirked. "I didn't think you had the nerve!"

"I thought I could forgive you for what you did to me! I know I can't now! You're the biggest coward I've ever met!'

"Oh really? On the contrary, it's me who's been trying to find you, but you are one tough girl to track!"

Serena's eyes narrowed. "You know where to find me! Don't try to say that I've run away from you for a second!"

"But you have! Or at least it looks that way from what's missing!"

Serena didn't finch to him mentioning the absence of her Moon Locket, which surprised Rubeus.

"What, you're not mad that Raye took your spot?"

"She never did, dumb ass!"

"Well then, let's prove it! I want you to come to the hills at midnight! No later! Bring your friends with you! Your brother, your boyfriend, whoever you want! We'll see what happened to your friends!"

Serena smirked. This was her chance. '_With great power, comes great responsibility!'_

"I'll do you one better, Rubeus! I'll come alone! But let's make a deal on this! We don't use any powers! You don't use your magic or your powers, and I won't be Sailor Moon! We settle this, the only way we can! I want a true fight! Don't worry about hitting a woman! Oh, I'll fight back, believe me! I want to make you bleed!"

_'Is she mad? The Queen of the Earth never knew how to throw a punch, let alone get into a fist fight! She can't be serious!'_

Rubeus, despite his doubts about what was going on, smirked. "If that's what you want, then that's what you will get!"

"If you use your powers once, the deal is off, and I'll use something I never thought I would have to use!"

"Fine! See you at midnight!" Rubeus disappeared, leaving Serena to think about what she had just proposed.

_'That's a good boy, Rubeus! Just like I wanted you to.' _Serena began to run as fast as she could towards the hospital.

**-xXXXXx-**

Darien was worried sick. The risk of Rubeus getting his hand on the Hizrounswa was one thing, but Serena's disappearance was another story. He paced back and forth several times in the cafeteria of the hospital, wondering if he should've went looking for his girlfriend, as well. He hadn't heard anything from anyone yet, and he wasn't too happy with that.

However, just a minute after ten, he heard a voice that was music to his ears: "Hi, Darien!"

Darien looked back to see that Serena was standing at the doorway into the cafeteria. He rushed over to her and kissed her on the lips, though the kiss was much shorter than he would've liked it to be.

"Serena, where the hell have you been?"

"Taking care of some business! There's something I need to talk to you about, but I want to see Sammy first!"

Darien wanted to talk to Serena, but that could wait if she wanted to put her family first. "Sure, they have him upstairs in the second room to the left. He's a bit weak, though, so don't worry if he's not talking very well."

"I'll take that over him not talking to me at all."

"C'mon." Serena followed Darien as he walked her to the elevator.

**-xXXXXx-**

Casto hoped that no one was going to be able to stop him from trying to find Serena. That was the easy part. The hard part was actually finding his sister. He had been searching the entire day, all over Tokyo and the outskirts. However, he couldn't find a trace of her anywhere. Not even a clue.

The only places where he didn't look were the hospital and her house. He knew where her house was now: he had followed her there earlier in the week. He couldn't for the life of him know why she would go there instead of the hospital to visit Sammy, and he wanted to make sure the hospital was the last place he looked. That way, he could at least inform Darien that he couldn't find her. He was much closer to her house right now, anyway.

As he looked through the archway and then the door, he saw the same things Serena had seen in the house earlier in the day. The glass was in such tiny pieces by now that it couldn't crumble anymore.

"Serena! Are you in here?" Casto got no answer. He looked though the living room and in the kitchen. Anywhere that she could logically be hiding from him, he looked through. When he knew no one was downstairs, he focused on the second floor.

That was when he saw something peculiar: the door to her room was opened. Her bed looked very comfortable to him, and he was trying as hard as he could not to lie in it and go to sleep. The search was more important to him, and he might have had the break he was looking for: this door was not opened when he was in here last, and he had exited the house after Serena that day. He was sure of it.

He also looked on her dresser, taking notice of the numerous bunny decorations on her blankets and all around the room.

"She remembered what I used to call her when we were kids. She hated when I called her bunny, though."

He walked out of her room and looked to the end of the hallway. The door of the master bedroom was also opened. _'She was here, or at least she stopped here at some point today.'_

He entered the room, however, to see the aftermath of Serena's rage. The dresser was tipped over with a hole in it, the stand-alone mirror was broken in several places, and the bedposts were chipped. One of the baseball bats was out in the middle of the floor right by the dresser, giving Casto the discreet evidence of just what happened there.

"Serena, it's not anger anymore. It's pure rage."

He strained his muscles in order to return the dresser upright, but he was able to finally get it back on its four feet. If he had looked just a few inches to his left, he would've caught the bullet hole that Serena made. Instead, he dismissed the possibility that Serena was currently in the house. That left the hospital as the only other place he didn't check yet. He went downstairs and out the door.

**-xXXXXx-**

"Sammy!" Serena quietly called out to her brother as she walked over to him and hugged him lightly. It was a dimly-lit room, with only a few lamps providing the illumination. The walls were covered in white wallpaper. He was in a standard hospital bed with a few needles in him to monitor him.

"Hi, Serena," a weak Sammy answered.

"Sammy, I'm sorry I wasn't there to do anything about it."

"No, Serena...don't be...sorry. I...was...blindsided..."

Serena looked to Darien who was waiting for her beyond the door frame before looking back. "We'll get him, Sammy!"

"Are...you...Sailor..."

Serena was a bit shocked about the question, though she tried to keep her gasping at a bare minimal. "Listen, Sammy, I..."

"I'm...not...mad at...you...I...want you to...be...Sailor Moon."

Serena sighed. "I...I didn't want you to be angry. I want my family to trust me with their lives."

"Are you?"

She had enough of hiding the truth from him as she gave a hard nod with a smile.

"Serena...Sailor Moon...thank you...for everything." Sammy could not talk anymore as he fell asleep right after.

Serena smiled and tucked him in. "Get some rest, bud. You deserve it." She paced backwards to the door frame, where Darien waited. "Darien, I need to talk to you alone."

Darien's stomach turned. He was scared at what this would be about, and thought about it as they made their way back to the first floor and into the cafeteria.

Serena closed the doors behind them and turned towards her boyfriend who was standing in the middle of the room with his back to her. "Darien, I know I haven't been that much of a girlfriend to you lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't! Please don't! You know damn well what I mean! Ever since Rubeus attacked my family, I've asked you to stay here in case he showed up here. I didn't want you to try to save me as Tuxedo Mask or anything like that. I know how much it's killing you to have to stay here."

"Serena, it's no problem."

"Bullshit, Darien! I can hear the disdain in your voice. You're angry at me! Hell, you even have your back to me when you're talking right now! You want so much to be by my side, yet I don't let you. You're respecting my wishes, but you're finding it tough to just be someone that sits around waiting for his girl to come back home."

"Well, I am a bit upset." Darien turned around and looked Serena in the eyes. "But it's only because I can't stand to see anything happen to you. I don't want you to make a mistake, or to wind up dead. I never want to see that happen."

"It won't. Trust me, it won't."

"How can I be sure of that, though? Serena, I wanted to hear your voice again, I wanted to feel you, look at you again. My God, Serena, everyone says that separation brings people closer together. It's doing that for me, and I was already aching for you."

Serena shook her head, however. "Then I know it would hurt more when I'm not here. I feel as though we're doing the same thing that we did when your future self gave us that test of our love, only this time, I'm the one rejecting you. I can't stand hurting you, Darien. I'm just so lost, and I really don't know what to do about it."

"Let me help you, then!"

"No, I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Rubeus challenged me to a fight in the Tokyo Hills at midnight, and I've accepted."

"Serena, no! You can't! You're giving him what he wants!"

"Not exactly, Darien! I gave him an ultimatum of my own! We fight with our fists this time. I don't use Sailor Moon, he doesn't use his power!"

The more Serena explained this plan, the more Darien's fear built. "How do you know that he's not going to use his power? And I've never seen you throw a punch for as long as I can remember! He can't be trusted!"

"I will be able, or else, he's going to see the real Serena Sommers!" It was then that she reached to her waist and pulled out the Eagle that she had concealed. The shock that came over Darien was without a rival.

"My God! How did you get this past all the security?"

"Shhh! Keep it down!" Serena put the gun away back where she had it hidden.

"But you..."

"It'll only be for an emergency. I don't know if Rubeus can even die from a gunshot wound."

"He might if you shoot him in the correct part, and because he's not in his home time, he might be weakened. But still, Serena, this is crossing the line! I don't think I can approve of this!"

"Which is why I had to talk to you! I know how much I mean to you! I want you to be happy, and I can tell you're not!"

"Definitely not now with that gun in your possession."

"I'm giving you a chance right now, Darien!"

"For what?"

Serena turned her back to Darien. "To say it's over!"

Darien paced back a few steps in shock. "_What_?"

"That's all you have to do, Darien! I'll be sad, and I probably won't like it, but I want you to be happy, and if I can't be there for you when you need me, then I would rather you be happy with someone else than be miserable with me going psycho."

Darien could feel a slight shortness of breath. There was no way he could possibly say that to his best friend, especially now. However, he did feel unhappy about her neglecting him. He felt as though he was losing her to rage. He didn't feel good thinking about that with all the near deaths that had occurred this week, but he couldn't help but feel left out of her life recently.

"All you have to do is say it, and I'll be out of your life forever. I won't cry, I won't whine, I won't run away from the problem, and I won't yell or be angry. But I need you to make a decision soon, because no matter what, I _am_ going to face Rubeus at midnight."

"Serena, I-I can't do that. You're too important to me."

"You can't decide?"

"No, I can't leave you, I don't want to leave you, and I don't want it to be over. I love you, Serena. I miss you so much. You have no idea how much it pains me to not be able to hear your voice, or to see that cheery, festive side of you that I fell in love with. It's not protecting your family that I'm having a problem with. I'll do anything to protect your family, and you know that. It's just being separated from you for so long, and seeing this side of you that I never seen before. I feel so helpless, I want to just go out there and give you the support I think you really deserve to have. I want to be the one that fights for you. I should be the one going into a fist fight with Rubeus, not you."

Serena turned around to eye Darien. "I understand what you mean. I miss you so much, and it pains me to be away from you, too."

"Then let me come with you, Serena."

"No, Darien. As much as I know you want to, I can't let you!"

"Why not, Serena?"

"Because...this is personal now! If it was Sailor business, if it was a normal rescue, or saving the world, or protecting crystals, then I would want you there. But this is personal."

"He wants the Hizrounswa, too, you know! It is about a crystal!"

"Yeah, and we'll find it. But this is also very personal. I've said it so many times: no one messes with my family. I need to do this, and I need you to protect my family here, one last time. I swear to you, this will end one way or another tonight. I have to do this my way now, and this is the only other way. I know you don't like it, but my mind's made up."

"I would be lying if I said I liked it, but if that's what you feel you have to do, then I can't stop you from going out there. Well, maybe I can, but I know how you are. I won't get in your way."

"Thanks, Darien. I promise, I will return. And I promise, that when this is over, I'll make it all up to you. You have no idea how much of a help you are to me, and how much this means to me. I wish it didn't have to come to this."

Darien took a few deep breaths before wrapping his arms around Serena. She returned the favor, though her eyes told that she had other things on her mind. The two looked into each others eyes and shared a deep kiss, one that Darien did not know if he would ever get another chance to have. He felt sick to his stomach, though he knew that Serena's mind was impossible to change once it was made up.

"Serena, whatever you do, though," Darien pleaded after the kiss, "please don't use that gun for anything. Throw that away, it's not for you."

"I can't guarantee that, but it's only as a last resort. I promise, I won't use it for anything but that. I'll be back." Serena hesitated to leave him, slowly walking to the door and never taking her eyes off of him before she exited the cafeteria.

Serena made sure that no one was looking before she walked to a janitor's area of the hospital. She had kept the door into the area unlocked. How was it unlocked in the first place? The same reason as how she was able to get a gun into the hospital unnoticed: there was a doorway outside through the janitor's storage area. It was a service door for deliveries and emergencies, one of the few exits that didn't have a metal detector. She had entered through the door, and she made sure she would be able to exit the same way.

She put her hands into her jacket pockets and, without another look back at the hospital, began walking at a steady pace through a long but narrow alley. She needed to quickly get out of the hospital before anyone became suspicious of her. Once she was a few miles away, she finally stopped and looked back.

'_I can't promise that I won't use this cursed thing, Darien,_' she thought while looking at the black weapon. '_But if I have to, I will. Like I said, this is personal. I can't have anyone else involved. Rubeus will pay with his life._' She once more tucked the gun underneath her blouse and began walking towards the hills.

**-xXXXXx-**

Darien was still in the cafeteria, nervously twiddling his fingers, elbows on his knees as he sat on one of the couches. He didn't know what to do, or what to think anymore. He was reassured about Serena's love for him, but the recent discovery of her intentions still bothered him. And that gun! What strength he had had to muster so he didn't rip that thing right from her hands. He didn't know if she knew how to handle it, much less use it. He prayed that he would never have to find out if she could.

About ten minutes after Serena left, he heard the cafeteria door swing open again. When Darien looked up this time, he was hoping it would be Serena coming to her senses. Instead, it was Casto. It was indeed some good news. Maybe Casto could succeed where Darien couldn't.

"She isn't here, Casto," Darien said, rising to his feet. "At least not anymore."

"She was here, then?"

"Yeah. I know where she went to, though."

"She was at the house, that I know. Things were different from when I last saw them."

"She came here just ten minutes ago to see Sammy and to let me know that she was going to the Tokyo Hills to face Rubeus."

Casto gasped. "What?"

"She told me it was personal and that she had to do this alone. She also told me she requested him to not use any powers, and that she wasn't going to use her Sailor powers."

"She can't without going back and getting her Moon Locket from the Shrine."

"Actually, we have it," the two suddenly heard Raye proclaim. Casto turned around to see his other four friends standing in the door frame. Amy was holding up the Locket to where they could clearly see it.

"We were chasing you around all day, Casto," Luna said. "You're not that easy to find, either."

"Guys, I'm glad you're here," Darien smiled.

"We heard all of it," Mina answered. "She's headed to the Tokyo Hills to face Rubeus in a fist fight to the death."

"Where is Tokyo Hills, anyway?" Casto asked.

"It's a bit out of the way, but wouldn't take too long to drive to. She's headed there on foot, though, which means it might take a bit of time. We could still catch her."

"She wanted me to stay here and make sure he doesn't attack here again," Darien stated, "but I don't think he would pass up such an opportunity."

"Security won't be able to stop him, either," Casto added. "Where's Sammy now? I know that was her biggest concern."

"Upstairs, second room out from the elevator. Can't miss it. He fell asleep when Serena saw him."

Casto didn't waste any time as he rushed out of the cafeteria and frantically pressed on the elevator button. Darien eyes narrowed as he raced after him, though he couldn't catch him before the elevator closed. He could see Casto within just before. He didn't want Casto to wake Sammy up. Thus, he pushed the button for the other elevator.

"Wait here, we'll be back!" Darien heard the other elevator open and entered, hoping to catch Casto before he woke Sammy, though he didn't think Casto would be that careless.

"We've heard that line way too many times this week!" Luna said.

"What are you up to, Serena?" Raye asked, sighing nervously.

Upstairs, Casto had quietly entered Sammy's room. He saw Serena's younger brother sleeping soundly, hooked up to I.V.s and monitors. He heard Darien following him just as quietly.

"Told you he was asleep, Casto," he scolded.

"I know, I'm not wanting to wake him. I just..." Casto sighed. "I don't want to see anything happen to him anymore, either. There has to be a way we can make sure that he's alright and you can come with us to help Serena and give her back her Moon Locket. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't change to Sailor Moon without-."

"W—Who's there?" they heard a weak voice whisper.

"Sammy," Casto answered. "I'm sorry we woke you."

"No...you didn't...couldn't stay...asleep." Sammy looked to Casto. "Who...who are you?"

Casto approached the bed. "My name's Casto Sommers. I'm Serena's big brother."

"We...didn't know of...a big brother."

"It's a long story, Sammy. One I'll tell you later. But all you have to know is that if you trust Serena, you can trust me." Sammy nodded as Casto continued, "Did you hear any of what we said about Serena?"

"About the...Moon...yes...I already know...she's Sailor...Moon."

"You do?" Casto looked to Darien.

"Yes. She let him know, though I had a feeling he did before."

"Are you...Sailor Moon's...brother...too?"

"Yeah, bud. I can protect her. Darien's been staying here and keeping you safe from that bad man that did this to you."

Sammy looked over slowly towards Darien and smiled at him. "Thank...you...Darien. It means...so much to...me."

"No problem, man," Darien answered with a smile. '_I didn't know you would say that, Sammy. You don't know how much I had to hear that._'

"Sammy," Casto continued, "we can stay here and keep an eye on you if you want. Serena's going to face the bad man, but she doesn't have what she needs to face him. We were going to go get it to her, but we didn't want to leave you here unprotected."

"I...I can...manage...this feeling just...sucks...that's all...go ahead...Darien...help her."

"Well," Casto sighed, "just to be on the safe side." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver device that had a red button on it and presented it to Sammy. "This is a warner device. I bought a few while trying to look for Serena in the Tokyo Tower. I registered it with my communicator. If he comes back to try to get you again, push this button, and I'll get here as soon as I can. I promise you, Sammy, none of us will let him hurt you ever again." He laid it on the table next to the bed, Darien eying the device strangely.

Sammy didn't care how it was supposed to work, though. "Alright...thank you...C—Casto."

Casto nodded. "No problem. Take it easy now." Sammy smiled and turned his head back, trying to get some more sleep. Casto walked out and to the elevator, Darien following him.

"What was that thing?" Darien asked as Casto pushed the down button for the elevator.

"It's a pager of some sorts I found at one of the stores there. I was able to put it so that it would alert my Vulture communicator if he presses it." As they got into the elevator, Casto looked to see Darien hanging his head. "Listen, man, don't fret. We'll get Serena back, believe me."

"You have no idea, Casto! I'm worried I'll never see her again!"

"I do know how you feel, Darien! I haven't seen her since I left the Moon Kingdom. I've always wanted to see her again!"

"I'm sorry," Darien answered with a sigh. "I'm not used to her having a brother yet."

The elevator doors slid open, and they saw that the others were waiting for them.

"Will he be alright with you coming with us, Darien?" Luna asked.

Darien smiled as his head rose. "Yeah, he'll be fine."

"He's got a way to contact us if anything happens, God forbid," Casto added.

"We can take my car," Darien proclaimed. "She's probably there by now." He made a conscious decision to bite his tongue for now about Serena carrying a gun. He didn't want them being more worried than they already were, though he hoped they would never get to know of the added element.

"We don't have much time," Raye concluded. "C'mon." The group followed Casto, Darien, and Raye out of the hospital.

**-xXXXXx-**

Serena was quick in getting to the highest point on the Tokyo Hills. It was surprising to her how fast she got there, as it would've normally taken her a few hours. However, it took her the remainder of the allotted time that she was given to arrive, as it was nearing midnight, the time when she expected Rubeus to appear on the grassy hilltop. She stood right in front of a tall oak tree, her fists tightly clenched.

"Alright, Rubeus!" she screamed. "I'm here, and I'm ready! Come out and fight, you coward!"

"Right on schedule," she heard Rubeus answer, and he appeared in front of her, about five feet away, arms crossed, and floating down to the ground. "I didn't think you would show up." Once his feet touched the ground, he let his arms fall to his sides, his narrow eyes glaring at the daring girl.

"C'mon, Rubeus! You've been all talk and no action! You were able to hit my mother, so I know you're cowardly enough to hit a girl, so I'll have no problem getting you to fight me, will I?" Serena finished by taking her hands to her huge ordangos that were in her hair and pulling out the pins that held them in place, throwing them away. This made her silky blond hair flow freely, straight down to her knees. She then took off her jacket and threw it over towards one of the trees. All the while, her eyes were locked dead on Rubeus.

"Damn, girl!" Rubeus gasped upon seeing Serena remove her trademark hairstyle. "You really _are_ serious about this! You _do_ want me to end your life tonight! If that's what you want, then how could I _resist_?"

He charged at her, pulling his fist back, and threw a huge punch. Serena, however, ducked underneath it and turned around to see him stop and swivel back himself. She greeted him with two straight punches, one from the left and one from the right, right in the mouth. The second punch made Rubeus have to take a few steps back to regain his balance, but Serena wasn't about to let him recover. She spun around and landed her foot into the back of his head, sending him face first into the ground. Rubeus didn't stay there for long, using his arms to lift himself back up to his feet, punching her dead in the mouth. Serena answered with a backhanded punch that made Rubeus have to use a nearby tree to keep his balance. He stopped there for a few seconds in shock.

"What's the matter, Rubeus, had enough?"

'_The hell did she learn all of this?_' Rubeus thought. He turned to face her. "Not in the slightest!"

He fired another straight punch right near her left eye, and he followed up with a side kick to her gut that sent her to the ground on her back. Serena looked to see Rubeus jump up and try to impale his foot into her chest. She rolled out of the way quickly and countered with a low sweep that knocked Rubeus' feet from under him. He was only on his back for a second, as he quickly jumped up and backhanded Serena in the teeth twice before kneeing her in the gut and uppercutting her in the chin, sending her into an opposite oak tree. Rubeus approached her and kneed her twice, punched her in the lips, and then backhanded her once more. The final backhand sent her to the soil, on her side. Serena could feel the dirt begin to stick to her skin, and she could also feel a few drops of blood escape her mouth.

Neither Serena nor Rubeus noticed that at this time, Darien's car pulled up on a nearby street. Darien, Casto, the four girls and the two cats all got out of the car at the same time and raced to where the fight was taking place. It was Darien who first saw Serena on the ground and in trouble.

"Serena!" he yelled.

"Darien, don't!" Casto ordered, holding him up from rushing in.

Darien stopped trying, though he looked at Casto angrily. "Why not?"

"One, this is her fight, and two, Rubeus is injured, too. I think she knew she would be hit."

"Yeah, I agree with him, Darien," Luna nodded. "I have to admit, she's taking it to him."

Rubeus, however, was oblivious to the group, continuing to tower over Serena. "Who's calling the shots now, eh?"

Serena only growled and shot back to her feet, quickly kicking Rubeus in the stomach before throwing punch after punch: one to his ribs, one to his gut, one towards his chin, one to the eye, and a last delivered to the nose after she paused for a second. He got knocked back quite a few paces following the last hit.

"Holy geezus!" Amy gasped. "I didn't know she could do that!"

"Me either," Raye agreed.

"She never did this on the Moon," Luna stated. "She was taught never to resort to this type of violence."

Casto hung his head, however. "No, Queen Serenity never taught her this. I, on the other hand, may have had something to do with this. I always got into fights on the Moon, and knew how to win them. She always wanted to have some of the knowledge that I had of melee combat."

Rubeus had the same thoughts that the girls did. '_This can't be. Neo-Queen Serenity was never known to even throw a punch.'_ He felt the blood escape his own body, his lip cut severely following the flurry of punches he had received.

As Serena tried to continue her assault, Rubeus countered with another backhand to her other eye, and then a few punches to the mouth. This opened up her cut further, with blood escaping more violently. Serena put a hand to her lip and then studied how much blood she was losing, turning her head towards her attacker coldly and with malice, gritting her teeth.

"C'mon, Serena," Casto whispered with a bright grin. "Show him what you can do!"

Serena backhanded Rubeus with the same hand she had examined her cut with, kneed and kicked him in the gut, and then sent a barrage of punches to his head in various areas. She lost count halfway through, nor did she care where they landed at this point. After about twenty or so punches, she jumped up and kicked Rubeus square in the mouth, sending him colliding back first with one of the trees. She had aimed to knee him once more, but he caught her leg and punched her in the gut. She doubled over, allowing Rubeus to get a punch in on her throat. The hit made it harder for her to breath, and he capitalized on the opportunity by grabbing her by the neck and throwing her onto the tree, choking her violently.

"Time to die, Sailor Moon!"

"Not quite yet, asshole!" She first kicked him high in the mouth, and followed up by a hard head butt to his temple. This made him let her go, and as she fought to regain breath, she backhanded him one more time. She took a couple more deep breaths, though she was tightening up her fists while she was inhaling. She saw Rubeus try to grab her again, but this time, she ducked underneath his lunge and elbowed him in the back of the neck. As she heard Rubeus grunt in pain, she knelt down and punched his tail bone dead on. He collapsed onto the ground as a result with Serena towering over him.

"I think her fighting skill is more of you _and_ me, Casto," Lita said.

"Not like that, though," he answered. "This isn't anger. It's rage."

'_She knew how to fight! How can this be? Serenity was never known to-_' Rubeus' eyes widened. '_Unless what I did-!_'

His thoughts were interrupted by Serena pulling on his hair to drag him back to his feet. "I'm ending this right now!"

'_Yes, Sailor Moon. You are right! This must end, now!_'

Serena forced him to turn around to face him. However, as she was ready to deliver a straight punch to his heart, Rubeus fired a double-shot beam as quickly as he could, hitting Serena in the chest, almost at her heart. There was the deal-breaker Serena was hoping he would not resort to, and the shot rang echoes in the ears of those looking on.

"That wasn't part of the plan, was it, Darien?" Casto asked.

"I _knew_ it," Darien growled. "He wasn't about to just not use his powers!"

"Well, Serena, how do you feel _now_, huh?" Rubeus yelled, pacing over to the fallen body that was trying to embrace the pain. "I realized that I may have changed a few things that I didn't really want to change!"

"He's such a coward," Raye gritted through her teeth.

"It's an emergency, too," Darien added.

It was his addition that made Casto turn to him. "What do you mean?"

Darien was trying not to worry him anymore than he already was by not talking about the gun that Serena possessed. He tried as hard as he could to bite his tongue and not say anything.

"Darien!" Casto yelled, clenching his fist. "Is there something you're not telling me? What do you mean by it's an emergency?"

He was interrupted by Rubeus continuing his spiel. "I wouldn't want to be your friends when they find your mangled body on this hill. I wouldn't want to know what kind of anguish they would feel seeing their so-called leader dead with her blood spilled all over the grass and the trees. You have any idea how much pain and suffering you've put me through? You're the one that lost me my position in the Black Moon Family, you're the one that caused my ship to go down, and you're the one that changed everything about me forever! It would be a damn honor to kill you and watch you squirm until you die!"

He readied another double-shot beam. At point blank range, and without her Silver Crystal protecting her, it would nearly, if not completely, kill her instantly. Serena could hear him prepare it for use, and she knew what she had to do to counter. She had prayed coming here that she would never need to use it, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She reached towards her waist, knowing what she carried.

"What the hell are you doing, Serena?" Casto pleaded. "Roll out of there! _Now_!"

Rubeus laughed and yelled, "Time to die, Sai-!"

That's all he was able to get out. The second he was ready to stretch his arms to fire the beam, Serena had pulled out her piece and aimed it right at Rubeus, taking off the safety. Her body was shaking, especially the hand that held the handgun. Her stare was frighteningly cold and narrow, and her teeth were clenched as she continued to shake.

"Oh, my God!" Luna gasped.

"You can't be serious!" Mina cried. "Does she-?"

"She can't!" Lita trembled. "She's never used that before, has she, Casto?"

"No, not that I can remember! I remember some of the guards during the Silver Millennium having laser pistols that were developed by the Mercury Kingdom for years as a protective measure, but I've never seen her use one!"

Rubeus' body froze stiff and his jaw dropped. He began to back up, the beam dissipating out of his hands as Serena slowly and methodically rose to her feet. "Serena, what are you doing?"

"Something I should've done a long time ago, Rubeus!" she growled. She slowly paced towards Rubeus, matching every step until his back was against the tree. Serena never took her dead stare off of him as she pinned him with the barrel of the pistol.

"Serena, please don't do it!" Amy breathed. "You're too good for this!"

"Can she kill him with that thing?" Artemis frantically asked.

"Like I said," Luna answered, "if she aimed correctly, it might. The way he froze when she brandished the gun scared me, too."

"What's wrong, Rubeus?" Serena continued. "All that inhuman power that you have, all those years you lived on Nemesis, and you're scared at a measly gun? Why is that, Rubeus? Maybe because you know that I can still kill you with one! Single! _Bullet_!" She pressed the barrel into his rib-cage, and then trailed it to his heart.

"Darien," Casto growled. "You knew about this, did you?"

Darien paused, and then sighed. "I'm sorry, Casto. I didn't want you to be scared for her anymore than you were. I had hoped that he would never give her a reason to use it, and you would never know that she had the intentions."

"I would want to know anyway, man! If she fires that gun, it's on your conscious."

"I know, Casto! I'm sorry!"

"What are we waiting for, guys?" Lita exclaimed. "We can stop her ourse-"

"_No_!" Casto yelled. "Too risky! She's already past her breaking point! Anything we do might make her lose it and fire! We can't give her any other reason to fire that thing! Let her get this anger out! As long as she keeps talking, she gives herself more time to think about this!"

"You tried to take Darien from me!" Serena growled. "You tried to take Sammy from me! You took my mother from me! You nearly took one of my best friends from me, and you tried to take Casto from me! You've done whatever you could do to torture me! You're the one person who's been able to make me do things I never thought I had the capacity to do!"

"You brought it on yourself, Serena!" Rubeus cried out. "You and your disgusting daughter tore apart my ship and-!"

He was interrupted by a loud gunshot onto the tree, extremely close to his temple. His eyes caught Serena's finger having pulled back on the trigger, and it made him freeze stiff. His eyes nearly bugged out, and his breaths shortened and quickened.

"What's wrong? Did I cut it too close for you?" Serena began to shed tears uncontrollably. "I'm through playing these goddamn games with you! I'm going to ask you one time, and then I'm pulling this damn thing, and a bullet is going through your damn _skull_! Where's! My! _MOTHER_?"

"Go to hell, Sailor _bitch_!"

She answered by pulling the trigger again, this time on the other side with the same proximity. She then shoved the barrel as hard as she could onto the center of his forehead. "_WHERE IS SHE_?"

"Holy shit!" Casto gasped loudly, breathing nervously and grabbing his head.

"You sure you're right about staying here?" Mina asked. "She's scaring me again!"

"Yes, though you don't know how much I'm fighting to follow my own damn advice!"

Rubeus could feel the cold, hard metal that made up the barrel of the piece piercing his forehead. He was trying as hard as he could to keep from showing fear. Could he really be killed by a bullet? Did he want to find out? Maybe he could at least buy himself some time, but it was then that he came up with what he thought was a brilliant idea. It would at least keep her from answering his own questions.

"_ALRIGHT, SERENA_!" Rubeus screamed. "You win!"

"What?" Casto gasped.

"I didn't know you were this determined to find her! I didn't know how much she meant to you!" Rubeus did at least one good thing from this talk: Serena backed up with the gun a few steps, though it was still pointed at him. "I—I still want that crystal, but she's too much of a hassle for me to keep anyway! Would be such a lost cause, and I don't want to die tonight!"

Serena was still in tears, her hands trembling, but her mind was with a newfound hope. Maybe it was her gun that had finally made Rubeus wake up.

"Come here tomorrow at noon, without the locket! I'll have her here, waiting to be reunited with you! Let me live, and it will happen, but if you kill me, you'll never find out where she is!"

She took two more steps back, Rubeus able to breathe a bit easier. A few seconds later, he disappeared in front of her eyes, even though she still held the gun straight at his previous location. It only took five more seconds before she dropped the gun on the ground and collapsed to her knees. She covered her face with her hands while she yelled, screamed, and cried out to anyone that could be near.

"_Serena_!" Casto and Darien both yelled out as they made a beeline for Serena, the rest of the group following without hesitation. Casto got to her first, kneeling to her.

"Shhh," Casto breathed softly, wrapping his arms around her. "We're here. You don't have to go through this alone."

"My love," Darien added, kneeling to her, as well. "I'm sorry! I should've know it was coming to this earlier."

"I-," Serena began, taking her hands off her face. "I never want to handle anything like that again. I don't know what possessed me to-."

"Don't worry, Serena," Casto interrupted. "It's over now. You got him to give up."

"I hate to be a bearer of bad news right now, Casto," Luna objected, "but we know how Rubeus is!"

"Yeah," Raye agreed. "He's such a coward that he might be leading us to a trap even now."

"Then we'll all be here tomorrow," Casto nodded. "If it is a trap, he won't be able to catch us in it."

"I'll be there for you, too, Serena," Darien smiled.

"Thank you, all of you," Serena answered. "I don't know where I would be without any of you."

**-xXXXXx-**

The group had returned to the Shrine to get some sleep, or try to at least.

Serena, however, couldn't rest. She was only focused on one thing: noon tomorrow. She was outside, leaning against the tallest oak tree, staring at the full moon as it was beginning to set. She sighed deeply, tears escaping her eyes, though not as many as before.

"Serena, you need some sleep for tomorrow," she heard someone say from the Shrine door. She turned around to see Casto coming down the patio steps and walking over to her.

"So do you, bro!"

"Sleep's been the only thing I've done lately. I can live without it."

Serena lifted herself off the tree and looked into her brother's eyes. "I'm sorry I put all of you through this. I worried every last one of you and made you think I was quitting the Soldiers."

"You don't have to apologize."

"Yeah, I do. Especially to you, Casto. The first time I met you in school, I almost choked you, and thought you were lying to me about being my brother. Hell, even when we did that mind meld, I still didn't have the feelings come back to me. I didn't want you to think that I hated you because I knew you remembered me and you and I being so close to each other. But now, I know you are my brother, and I remember now how close we were."

"What made you remember?"

"When you saved us from the pod explosion. I thought I was going to lose you. I don't know what it was about you sacrificing yourself to save us made me remember, but it did."

Casto hung his head and sighed. "Then I should apologize. I didn't know you-."

"You saved Amy's life. You saved my life-all of our lives. That's all the apology I need. That's just how we were back then. We looked out for each other. I was never able to scream or curse or yell at anyone, or hit anyone. I could never get angry because I was the Princess. Royalty never became vicious, she said. But you let me be angry, you lent your ear when I needed to scream out or to be someone that my mother never knew I could be. I think it's your presence that is reminding me that it's alright to be angry, and to let it out."

"Yeah, Serena," he answered, coming closer to his sister. "It's not healthy to keep all of that anger in."

"But I never felt like that before. I almost slit his throat in the pyramid, then I almost shot him in the head tonight. What's happening to me, Casto? I knew you let me be angry, but not like this."

"What you're experiencing is rage. You've let your anger cloud your judgment. You want revenge for the things that he has done to you."

"But so many people have done me wrong over the years, and I never acted out like this."

"No one has ever dared to harm the people you love like Rubeus has. You've never experienced personal tragedy before, and you didn't know how to handle it. Believe me, Serena, everyone has a dark side. You've never shown it to any of us before, or even to yourself. You've always been forgiving and kind and loyal, and when someone like you has to show their dark side, that part of them is more unstable than someone who usually does show it."

"I don't like it, though, Casto. I don't like this side of me."

"No one likes it when they have to show their dark side. I never enjoyed it when I had to, I know that. The secret is in how to control it so it doesn't become a detriment to you. It's in how you handle it that makes you stronger."

Serena sighed happily, and turned back to the moon. "I think you're right."

Casto wrapped one of his arms around Serena. "Come in and get some sleep. You'll need it, trust me."

"I'll try, bro. Thanks. And Casto?"

"What?"

"I love you. Please, don't ever leave me again!"

"I won't, sis. I promise you I won't. I love you so much." Casto kissed her on the forehead as he led her back inside.

**-xXXXXx-**

It was eleven in the morning. The sun was shining bright on Juuban, and for Serena, it was nearly the zero hour. She did get some sleep, if only a little bit. She didn't care how much she had at this point, though. All she cared about was what would happen at noon, assuming Rubeus wasn't just saying something to get out of Serena shooting him in the head.

She had waited at the top of the steps going down to the street, staring beyond the buildings it seemed. '_You better not be lying to me, Rubeus!_'

"Serena, I'll take you and your friends up to the hill," she heard Darien call out behind her. "It'll be faster if I drive you than if you walk."

Serena turned on her heels. "Thanks. I'm so nervous and so happy at the same time." She turned her head slightly. "Though I would be lying if I said I wasn't doubtful that Rubeus would be a man of his word like we all think he will be this time."

"I'll tear him apart myself if he isn't!"

"So will we!" they both heard Lita yell out. The rest of her best friends were all coming outside to meet the two as they flanked Darien as quickly as they could.

"Yeah, we'll show them why you never mess with the Sailor Soldiers!" Raye proclaimed.

"Love and justice will conquer a lying man!" Mina shouted.

"No one will ever take advantage of your kindness again!" Amy smiled, showing Serena of her forgiveness.

"We'll all make sure he's true to his word, sis!" Casto finished.

Serena nodded happily. "Thank you, all of-!"

She was interrupted by a loud siren going off. It was coming from Casto's communicator. He knew there was only one way the communicator could make that noise: the device that he gave Sammy last night!

"The hell's that?" Raye asked.

"It's my communicator. It's the way I gave Sammy a way to contact us if—."

"Oh, for the love of God, no!" Serena panicked.

"Serena, listen to me!" Casto yelled quickly, rushing to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. "You've got an obligation to fulfill! !I'll go check this out for you this time! If it's Rubeus, then he won't be expecting me to come to his aid and I'll have the advantage of surprise! He would want you, and it may be just a distraction to make him not have to choke up his end of the bargain!" He then turned to the rest of the group. "All of you, go ahead and get your asses to Tokyo Hill! I'll meet all of you up there once I check this out! Do not miss this opportunity!"

"Right!" the other Sailors said in unison.

"Thanks, bro! I hope Sammy's alright!"

"He will be, sis! Gotta go! No time to waste!" He raced down the steps and towards the hospital.

"What are we waiting for?" Artemis asked.

"I'll keep a hold of your Moon Locket for you," Raye added. "That way, Rubeus won't know we have a backup plan just in case he goes back on that word."

"Thanks, Raye," Serena nodded. "Oh, speaking of other's possessions, Amy, I think this belongs to you. I forgot I had it." She reached into her jacket pocket to reveal Amy's Mercomp computer, the same one that she had recovered from the escape pod. "I remembered I had it earlier yesterday."

Amy smiled as Serena handed back the computer to her. "Thanks, Serena!" She secretly hoped that it still had the data she downloaded from the pod a few days ago.

"Okay, let's not waste anymore time! Let's get your mother back, Serena!" Luna proclaimed. Serena nodded before rushing down the steps towards Darien's car.

**-xXXXXx-**

As the others stood back, Serena stepped to the front of her pack. The part of the Tokyo Hills that they were now on were more of plains than hills. It was the flattest part of the area, with very few trees in the way to let the sun shine brightly on the scene, and fresh grass being blown in different directions by the wind. To Serena, it made the perfect scene for what she hoped was about to happen, as the clock had hit noon. She stood straight and ready with her eyes locked right in front of her. This was Tokyo Hills, where he said he would be. She only hoped her brother was able to take care of whatever trouble was going on at the hospital. She trusted him with her life now, and that helped her more than anyone could have imagined.

She stayed quiet during the entire time she stood there, and for thirty more seconds, she waited for him to show up with her mother. She was about to yell out when she heard Rubeus say, "You came, Serena!"

"You didn't think I would?"

Rubeus appeared from behind one of the only three trees that stood in this part of the hills. "As you know, Serena, I'm a man of my word."

"Bullshit, Rubeus!" Lita objected. "You said you would go down with your ship and you didn't! You too much of a slimy coward! How can we expect you to hold true to your word now?"

"Because I just did!"

Serena couldn't believe her eyes. Rubeus directed someone from behind the same huge tree in which he came out of, and he proved to be truthful, judging by who was there: Ikuko Sommers.

"I told you I would deliver her to you, to be reunited. She was a thorn in my side, so why should I keep someone as bait when she is going to put me in a tough spot?"

It looked as though Ikuko had been knocked around a few times. She had a slightly black eye and a few bruises on her chin and temple, but other than that, she seemed to be alright to Serena. Her eyes watered and her smile shone brightly, and she began to run up to her, Rubeus taking a few steps back from what could've been a very heart-warming reunion. However, just as Serena was about to wrap her arms around her mother, her greatest nightmare came true: Ikuko's smile disappeared, her hand reeled back with a tight fist, and she swung her hardest right at Serena's face. It collided dead on with her jaw, and Serena dropped like a dead fly onto the ground.

"_WHAT THE HELL_?" Luna screamed.

"No!" Mina gasped. "After all of this-_no_!"

Ikuko's face told the entire story to Serena. Her stare towards her daughter was cold and malicious, and Serena knew there was nothing except evil intentions in the woman's mind. Her tears of joy suddenly became tears of sorrow.

"Oh yeah, Serena," Rubeus laughed evilly, "I almost forgot to mention something about your mother: she isn't too happy with you right now! In fact, I think she might be so willing to just kill you right here!"

"No, mother! My God, no!"

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the cliffhanger, and I hope you come back for chapter 7, which will probably be the final chapter of this story, but it won't be the end of the saga, as the next entry into the yet unnamed saga will begin where BBR leaves off. Believe me, this will just be the beginning.

Good night and good luck


	7. Motherly Sins

BLINDED BY REVENGE  
CHAPTER 7  
Motherly Sins

Written by Darkpower  
Rating: 14 (Dialogue, Violence, Language)

This is it! The final chapter. It'll be a little long, but I think you will enjoy it. I hope you all do.

* * *

"Mom, what are you doing?" Serena cried out, trying to turn her head towards the woman who had thrown her onto the ground with a hard right hook to the face.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing: Ikuko Sommers, her own mother, had nearly knocked her out with that punch. There was no reason that she was aware of yet for the sudden attack, and it was a reason that Raye, Mina, Amy, Lita, Luna, and Artemis wanted to hear. It also soundly shocked Darien as well, but he didn't really want to hear an explanation. He only wished for Rubeus to pay for this turn of events. Raye kept a hand ready to slide Serena's Moon Locket to her, but she found it too risky to do so in such a hostile moment. She didn't want anyone else picking it up other than her friend.

"She told me quite a few things about you that she didn't particularly like, Serena!" Rubeus chuckled. "She asked for this opportunity to make sure you remembered how much she has always hated you!"

Serena fought to return to her feet, but once she did, Ikuko kneed her in the gut. She followed by taking her palm and shoving her daughter's face, pushing Serena back to the ground. Her face was literally tasting the soft soil on the ground that she was now saturating with her tears.

"Why, mother?" she asked as she rolled over onto her back, seeing Ikuko walk towards her.

"You're such a disgrace as a daughter!" Ikuko hissed. "You lied to me! All these years, I thought you were my daughter! Now I finally see you for nothing more than a pitiful freak! You've been in my family for too long!" Ikuko picked up her teary-eyed daughter off of the ground by her hair, forcing her back to her feet. "I know what to do with traitors that try to come into my family uninvited! I make sure they never come _back_!" She threw Serena back first into the tree that was behind her as hard as she possibly could. Her friends could only look on in shock. They wanted desperately to help her, but the shock of seeing this unfold, plus the fact that they didn't want to hurt Ikuko despite the beating that Serena was taking from her, was keeping them from acting.

"Go ahead, Serena! Cry, like you did when I punished you for your low grades, or because you got up too late for school! You have no," she paused to kick Serena in the ribs, making Serena yelp, "_idea_ how pathetic I felt to give birth to some dumb blond bimbo girl who can't even clean her damn room! And now I hear that you are Sailor Moon, and that you kept that from me! What a horrible daughter you are! Hell, you're not even my daughter anymore!" She used her foot to shove Serena's nearly lifeless body away from her.

"This can't be!" Raye cried. "How did he pull _this_ one off?"

"I don't know," Darien yelled. "I don't care anymore! Rubeus, explain yourself! What the hell is this all about? She doesn't hate Serena! You did something to her!"

"I didn't do anything to Ikuko," Rubeus answered. "Though if you really think you want to make a point, even with your wounds, I'm all ears, punk!"

"I'll gladly take you on!" Darien reached into his sport coat pocket and pulled out a very familiar white mask and a red rose. He knew what to do, and as he put the mask onto his face, he had every intention of using his alter ego that he was changing into make Rubeus feel sheer pain. From the black and white top to the black cape, top hat, shoes and pants, he had quickly became Tuxedo Mask. He never thought he would ever use this power for personal needs, but he now saw that he had no other choice. His other weapon of choice was the last thing that appeared in his white-gloved hands: the long wand that he used as a makeshift sword.

"Ah, so Tuxxy Boy reappears once more," Rubeus chuckled. "I never thought you would come back!"

Mask only answered with a growl, and then charged at Rubeus. He tried to fire double-shot after double-shot, but Mask dodged the shots and struck him in the ribs with the wand, making him step back some. Mask tried to get him again, but only to have Rubeus jump out of the way of not only that swipe but two others that came his way. Rubeus swung a punch at his adversary's face, but Mask ducked, got behind Rubeus, and struck his back with an elbow. Rubeus went forward a few feet, but he quickly turned around and fired another furry of beams. Mask dodged some and knocked away others.

However, during Mask's attempt to dodge the beams, he unknowingly stepped extremely close to Ikuko, who had seen this short battle taking place. "And your boyfriend here, I don't think he's for you, either."

She waited until Rubeus could make Mask turn around. Rubeus dodged a swipe by Mask, jumping over him and Ikuko. It made Mask pivot, which is all she needed. She took a knee and, as hard as she could, hit Mask below the belt. Mask froze the second she hit him, and he couldn't keep his balance as he went down to the grass below. Rubeus only looked on with a smirk.

"_Darien_!" Raye yelled.

"Your friends, I take it?" Ikuko asked, looking at the felines and the four girls. "They're probably freaks just like you are! If you're Sailor Moon, then that must mean that they are your cheerleaders, right?"

"Ikuko, snap out of it!" Amy pleaded. "That's your daughter you're talking to! That's Serena, the person who saved your son's life, and who kept Rubeus from hurting you!"

"She isn't my daughter! She isn't even human!"

Rubeus stood back and snickered to himself. '_Wow, what a show we have going on here! Wish I had a chair or something to sit in!_' He stepped back a few steps, opting to just watch Ikuko and the Sailors battle.

"Ikuko, we are not your enemies!" Luna shouted. "We are your friends! We want to help you!"

What?" Ikuko gasped. "A talking _cat_? That must mean that white fur-ball over there can talk, too!"

"C'mon, Ikuko!" Artemis answered. "Rubeus must have brainwashed you somehow! He can't be believed! Remember the times you and Serena had together, how lonely you were when she was not in the house!"

"Shut up, you freak!"

"Guys, we may have to act!" Lita proclaimed. "Ikuko must've really been convinced by Rubeus somehow that Serena's her mortal enemy!"

Mina, however, objected. "But we can't hurt her! Serena has been aching to rescue her! It can't end like this! We'll be killing her ourselves!"

"No, we don't hurt her, but we incapacitate her. Keep her from acting long enough to find out what the hell is going on here!"

"I'm with Lita!" Raye agreed. "We gotta do _something_! Mars Star Power! Make! Up!" The fire quickly made up her red high heels and red Sailor fuku as she was transformed to Sailor Mars.

"There's more of you?" Ikuko shrieked.

"You bet there is, missy!" Lita fired back. "Jupiter Star Power! Make Up!" Lightning bolts surrounded her, creating the green lace-up boots and dark green fuku, marking the entrance of Sailor Jupiter.

"Serena's been through too much for it to end like this!" Mina cried. "Venus Star Power! Make Up!" The transformation went very quickly, the love ribbon making up her entire outfit all at one, thereby transforming her into the gorgeous Sailor Venus.

"If I can forgive the most caring person I have ever met, so can you, Ikuko!" Amy added in a stern tone. "Mercury Star Power! Make Up!" Bubbles came to create her knee high blue boots and fuku, turning her into Sailor Mercury.

Ikuko, however, was not impressed. "The Sailor Soldiers! Just some measly kids? Well now, I guess this will be much easier than I thought! Don't worry, dear Serena! I'll get back to you shortly!"

**-xXXXXx-**

Casto ignored how out of breath he had become from all the running. He didn't care as he had other things on his mind. He couldn't stop as he was trying to get to the hospital as fast as his legs could allow. It wasn't too far away from the Shrine, but any distance to the hospital was too far. Sammy's life depended on him.

As he finally reached the emergency room door, he circled his hand in the air rapidly, as if he could get the sliding doors to open faster by doing so. He raced through the two doors the second he could get through. He only hoped that no one would stop him on his way to the second room on his left.

That is, if he chose to use the elevator to get up to the second floor. Instead, he decided to take the stairs. The elevator would take too long, and he could still get to the room very quickly from the top of the steps. Once he was at the second floor, he continued to race to where he saw what would've been the elevator's stop. He adjusted the directions in his mind to Sammy's room. He was relieved that no one either stopped him or got in his way.

However, once he got to Sammy's room and looked in, he did not see Rubeus. '_He must've already been here! I'm too late!_' He raced into the room to see Sammy shaking in fear, and he wondered what would cause the kid to tremble like that.

"Sammy!" Casto shouted. "What happened? Where's Rubeus?"

"It's not..him! It's something else!" Sammy's speech had definitely improved, which was the only bright spot as Casto looked around to see what Sammy was talking about.

"I don't see anything, Sammy!"

"It was small...like a...bomb...or something!"

Caso gasped and held his temple. "Oh, my God! This can't be happening! This really can't-!"

He was interrupted by something hitting his leg. No, more like bumping it in an attempt to get his attention. He looked down and to his right to see a small black sphere. Was this the bomb that Sammy was talking about? Certainly looked like something suspicious and something that a crazed terrorist would plant. Had cat ears on it, big eyes, and smiling a mouth. However, the most distinguishing characteristic to the sphere was the large antenna that was right on top of the thing, right in between the cat ears.

"Weird bomb," Casto pointed out. "Whoever planted it has a lot of love for cats."

However, at that moment, he heard a small giggle come from the sphere, followed by a sultry female voice beckoning him. "Don't worry! You and Sammy are safe!"

"Did that thing just...speak?"

"I know who you are, Casto Sommers. You're the lost brother of the Moon Princess. One that destiny didn't see entering the fabric of time. You can handle the sphere. It won't blow up on you, trust me. In fact, Casto, if you really who you say you are, then you should already know who I am."

As Casto nodded and picked up the sphere (without consequence), he looked into the two eyes of the sphere to see a very familiar face stare at him. He knew exactly who this was. "Of course I know who you are. You're Sailor Pluto. You were the first line of defense against outside attacks against the Moon Kingdom."

"Well, yeah, you could say that, Casto," Pluto answered. "But you know me for another reason."

Casto hung his head. "Yeah, I know that too. You encountered me while I was leaving the Moon Kingdom. You convinced me to stay with you on Pluto for a while."

"It wasn't meant to be, Casto. I had other priorities and your heart was in another place. I felt so sorry for you when I heard what had happened, and you broke my heart when you told me you had to leave again. We weren't together anymore, but you became one of my best friends, and I couldn't stand to see you go."

"It was awfully tough for me, too."

"Um, ex—excuse me," Sammy called out, "but what about now?"

"Yeah," Casto agreed. "What are you doing now? What is this thing and what brings you here?"

"I apologize," Pluto sighed. "I apologize to Sammy for frightening him. It was the only way I knew how to get you here to talk to you. I knew you and Serena both told Sammy that you were Sailor Soldiers."

"You mean you used Sammy to lure me here?"

Pluto sighed heavily. "Yes. I didn't mean to, though. I was going to tell him to call for you, but even I didn't know how frightened he was, or that the device you gave him was the first version of the comm pager that you couldn't talk into."

"Wait, this thing is the only one-!"

"Casto, please, listen to me. After the attack on the Moon Kingdom, several things happened to me, including the fact that I was condemned to guard the Door of Time. This is how I know a lot about what is going to happen if the events that are taking place now continue to run their course. I can see things that no one else can see from where I am. The sphere you're holding is the Luna P sphere. It was a device that I had used one year ago to talk to the future daughter of your sister."

"Wait! My sister...is going to have a _daughter_?"

"That was to be her destiny."

"And you can see all of this?"

"Yes. It's a long story about how I know these things. I'm sure your friends can tell you all about it. They helped her in so many ways. But Casto, that _was_ the destiny that happened."

"Was?"

"Rubeus was not supposed to escape from the spaceship. He was supposed to die there when the ship fell apart, but unfortunately, I did not realize that the future that I saw for him had changed. Somehow, he knew something that I didn't know he did."

"Like you said, though. The future that you've seen is only what will happen if the current events continue to run their course. If someone were to do something that wasn't the same as what made that future, then there would be a different version."

"Yeah, I'm confused now," Sammy sighed.

"Destiny is something different, though. It's a purpose in life. It's a role that you play in the grand scheme of the universe. It's the reason you and I are born. And once that purpose is fulfilled, we cycle though and pass on, leaving our legacies to the next generation that will have their own destinies."

Casto shook his head. "No, Trista! I never believed in that. Destiny is only what you make of it. It's up to the person to decide whether or not to follow that destiny or to choose their own path. Nothing can be chosen for them, and they can control their own destiny."

"You still disagree with Serenity's teachings of destiny to this day. You're still a wild heart, just like what I fell in love with for the longest time. Sometimes I wish our relationship never fell though." Pluto sighed, trying to keep her tears from showing. After clearing her throat, she continued, "But destiny or not, the future didn't see Rubeus surviving the destruction of his ship. It is because of this that Serena and Darien's future has changed. The events that took place the past week have taken their toll on what eventually happens."

"Do they still have their-?"

"Reenie still exists. For that I am thankful. But she isn't the same...well, she's still kind and gentle to people, but she's a bit...how should I put this...feistier. She has been taught a few choice moves by her mother."

"That's good, right?"

"Well, yes, but we have a problem here. The new events that I have seen can also be changed further, and from what I can see, it proves grim."

"What do you mean?"

"If the events pan out the way they are right now, your sister will forever live her tragedy. I can see Serena on Tokyo Hill, and she will have to do something that she never thought she would do, and she will be with too much guilt to play a part in her daughter's life. The changes have not affected her daughter just yet, which is why I informed her that she is needed."

"Reenie is headed here?"

"I think...I remember her." Sammy chimed in. "Pink hair, her and Serena never got along."

"Yes," Pluto continued. "but she has had a bit of training as a Sailor Soldier since that time. She has a way of exposing evil where it would otherwise be hidden, which is the tool you need for the fight going on now at the Hill."

The words Pluto said struck a chord with Casto. "Wait a second! What fight? She was supposed to-?"

"I can stay here and keep an eye out for Sammy, and can contact you if anything should happen here. But in order to do that, I would have to ask you to help me in getting Reenie there. The Luna P ball would have to be at the place where we need the time portal to be. There is a way that I can do a remote portal, and that's where you come in, Casto! Look behind the face."

Casto turned around the Luna P sphere, and found a small device, similar to the one he had given Sammy, but it was black in color, had more than a few buttons, and was extremely thin. Casto was able to remove the device easily from the slot that it was within.

"There should be a spot where you can add that strip into your communicator. Once you do that, I can link the Luna P sphere with your communicator, and we can do the remote time portal that way. But you have to hurry, Casto. We don't have much time, and you would have to get there on foot."

"That'll take...forever, though," Sammy pointed out.

Casto was listening to the two as he was looking for a slot on his Vulture communicator. He eventually found a small slot on the left side of his device, in which he slid the strip. Within seconds, he could hear the communicator accept the device and begin to work its magic, just in time to hear Sammy say that it would take forever to get to Tokyo Hills from the hospital. With no other words spoken, Casto nodded to Pluto, set down the Luna P sphere on a chair next to Sammy's bed, and raced out of the room and the hospital.

"Will he...make it?" Sammy asked.

"I pray that he can. Serena doesn't deserve what's going on right now."

"What _is_ going on right now?"

"I wish I knew where to begin explaining, but I think I can try."

**-xXXXXx-**

Casto kept running down the street, trying not to knock over any pedestrians that were in his way. He could feel her heart wrench and his stomach turn.

'_Fight? What fight? Please don't tell me Rubeus wasn't to his word! Then again, we can't expect anything less from him anymore! Please, whatever this is, don't let it happen to my sister! Leave her the hell alone!_'

His breaths were heavy. His eyes were watering with both fright and of the wind hitting his eyes as he was frantically speeding to get to the Hill. His will was undeterred. He would wait to transform until he got there, as he knew it would just slow him down.

'_Sis, I promised you I wouldn't leave your side ever again. I will honor that promise, if it's the last thing I do!_'

**-xXXXXx-**

The Sailors all looked right into the eyes of Ikuko, who returned the cold stare.

"I thought you all were on our side!" Ikuko yelled. "You all stood for love and justice, from what I heard. But instead, you support this...this thing!"

"That 'thing' is your damn daughter!" Jupiter screamed.

"No, she's not!"

Ikuko charged at Jupiter, trying to punch her, but Jupiter moved out of the way just before it could connect. She turned around and hammer locked Ikuko's arm behind her, pinning her to the ground.

"Listen to us!" Jupiter pleaded. "Listen to you! Listen to what you're saying! She did all of this just to save you because she loves you!"

"And I _hate_ her!" Ikuko got her arm out of Jupiter's hold and used her other hand to backhand Jupiter off of her. Ikuko got back to her feet and jumped onto Jupiter, punching her in the face a few times, and then aiming a punch right for her chest cavity.

"Mercury Bubbles! Blast!"

The bubbles made a thick fog around Ikuko, greatly diminishing her visibility. She looked around to try to find something that she could attack or get to in order to have some support.

"Sailor Mars, get the Locket to her now!" Mercury yelled out. "While they can't see anything!"

Mars knew now that this was her best chance to get the Locket to Serena to give her at least some form of defense. She began to run towards Serena, who was a bit further away than what she would've liked. She saw that Serena was trying to get back to her feet, though the process proved to be difficult with the numerous injuries that she had sustained thus far.

However, as long as it seemed to be, it actually wasn't such a great trek, and before long she was nearing her fallen comrade. As she was ready to hand off the Moon Locket to Serena, though, she felt a hard kick being planted right in her stomach. It stopped her dead, and she spun and landed face first into the ground. She had also dropped the locket as a result, and it bounced a foot away from her, right out of reach and in the open. The person who kicked her? Rubeus.

"It won't be that easy, Sailor Mars!" Rubeus chuckled. "After all, I can make your dreams of being the actual leader of the Sailor Soldiers come true! Why would you turn that away?"

"B—Because I don't want to be leader," Mars replied. "She's the only one...that can be."

"I guess you're happy having such a flake as-!"

"Shut up! You have...no right to tell anyone else...who they are!"

Rubeus would've answered, but he instead locked his eyes on something that he didn't know before Mars had dropped: the Moon Locket. "Well, it seems you didn't want it anyway, because there it is, just ready for my taking."

Mars knew she had to get just a few more inches to reach it, and she lifted herself up just slightly to her hands and knees to get to the Locket. However, just as she was about to grab it, Rubeus quickly kicked her in the ribs, making her fly back a few inches. She hit the ground hard, giving Rubeus a clear path to the Locket.

As he was ready to grab it, though, he got punched in the mouth, followed by him getting choked by a large rod. He knew who it was: Tuxedo Mask, who had recovered just in time to keep him away from the Locket. Mask had pinned Rubeus on the ground with the wand on his throat.

"I'm not done with you just yet, Rubeus," Mask growled. "Why did you do it?"

"I'm telling you," Rubeus pleaded, "I didn't do anything to her! She had a lot of pent up anger inside of her because of her daughter hiding the worst secret one could hide from her! It was her secret that cost her family dearly!"

Rubeus finished his rhetoric by kneeing Tuxedo Mask in the gut, which tossed Mask over onto his back. Rubeus followed by a hard elbow to Mask's ribs as he shot to his feet. "Some hero you are!"

However, this distraction did allow Sailor Mars to return to her own feet, and get to the Locket. She started to go after it when she was met by a hard forearm hitting the small of her back. Ikuko smiled at her accomplishment and she stood over a now wounded Mars.

"Seems you have a liking to that piece of jewelry, miss! Isn't that what that girl used to become that pathetic wretch? Maybe if I just destroy it right now, I'll forever be known as the one woman who put an end to treachery!"

Ikuko ran for the Locket and picked it up with a grin, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the pink and yellow object. She wrapped her digits around it and began to squeeze it, trying to crush it with her hand.

However, she was stopped by Serena, who grabbed her by the wrists and threw her against a tree. "I don't want to fight you, mom! Please, snap out of it! I'm not your enemy! I love you, mom!"

"No, you _don't_!" Ikuko kicked her daughter in the stomach, followed by her using the hand with the Locket in order to punch her in the mouth. Blood escaped Serena's lip as she fell to the ground once more. "There, the ultimate insult to Sailor Moon! Getting hurt by the one thing that's supposed to protect her! How does it feel, Serena?" She then opened up the locket to see the crystal within. "And this would be the very thing that I should be destroying! Crystals are fragile, you know? One wrong move and they could shatter!" She took the crystal out of the locket and into her hand, tossing it in her hands. "How about I save you the trouble of telling you I'm disowning your lying ass and just shatter this right now!"

'_No!_' Mars said within her head. '_She can't possibly mean that! She would never want to disown her! C'mon, Ikuko, don't do this!_'

"All my troubles will be over once I-"

"Venus Crescent Beam! Smash!"

The beam hit Ikuko's wrists, which in turn made her lose grip of both the crystal and its encasing locket. However, the locket and the crystal both went in separate directions. What made matters worse was that the crystal was much smaller compared to the thick, tall grass that had been blowing throughout the battle thus far.

"How dare you?" Ikuko yelled. "You're just as much of a freak as any of them!"

"No, Ikuko, you're wrong," Sailor Venus said as an evil look took over her visage. "This isn't the Ikuko Sommers that I know! This isn't the same Ikuko that I know would protect her daughter against anything in the damn world! As the protector of love and beauty, I am Sailor Venus, and I will punish you for your distasteful deeds!"

"All you are is a pathetic slut!"

What Ikuko had said sent a fury of sheer anger over Venus, one in which no one had ever seen. "No one! Ever! Calls! Me! A! _Slut_!"

"No, Mina," Jupiter ordered, "don't let her words get to you!" She was puzzled at the anger, however. '_What's going on? Why is she getting so angry over that?_'

Venus, however, lunged at Ikuko, a firm punch nearly missing her as she ducked out of the way of the right hand.

"I think I touched a nerve...slut!"

"Yes, you have, Ikuko! A boyfriend I once had on the Venus Kingdom called me that name! I never forgot it because of how much I loved him! We were going to get married, and on that day, he said he had an epiphany, and that he caught me making out with someone else! It was such a lie that he told, but he bailed, calling me a slut in the process! He was my life then, and he tore my heart apart from calling me that! You should know better, Ikuko!"

"Ha! And you tell me like I care!"

Little did Ikuko know that while Venus' story was indeed true to the letter, Ikuko was being stalled enough so that she did not see Sailor Mercury take out her Mercomp and scan the area to find out where the Silver Crystal was. The locket could wait because it was just the encasing, but the crystal was important, and also what Mercury spotted right near the staggering Serena.

"Serena!" Mercury yelled out. Serena was able to hear her friend and look over to her. Mercury then nodded her head forward. Serena knew immediately what she was referring to, turning around and spotting a silver object on the ground right away. She had to be extremely quick, and lucky for her, she was able to retrieve both the crystal and the locket that she had spotted just a few feet away from the crystal.

"No one else here ever knew about that incident!" Venus continued. "It was before I knew of the Sailor Soldiers and what it was all about! I never told anyone ever, but you're the one that had forced me to reveal it!"

"Are you so glad now that I can expose you for the slutty bitch that you-!"

"Moon Crystal Power! Make up!"

Ikuko was immediately interrupted by the one thing she was hoping would not happen. Serena donned the jewelry that included the same Tiara that gave Rubeus fits in the Pyramid Temple, the trademark red boots, and white gloves. It took only seconds to transform into Sailor Moon, but it couldn't go fast enough for the rest of the Sailors or for Serena. At the very least now Serena had some defense, and she could do something about whatever had taken over her mother's mind.

"No!" Ikuko yelled. "Rubeus, you lie to me! You told me she wouldn't have it!"

"She didn't!" Rubeus answered as he continued to fight Tuxedo Mask. "One of them must've hid it and was able to keep me from sensing it! I'm just as surprised as you are!"

"He had a deal with you, Serena! Or so he told me! No matter, you're no longer my daughter, anyway!"

"So, Rubeus," Mask yelled as he continued to battle him. "You did have a hand in what she thinks of her daughter now!"

"Yeah, Rubeus," Mars added, "real original of you to turn one of Serena's loved ones against her!"

Moon heard that and immediately remembered what Mars was referring to: Darien, when Queen Beryl brainwashed him to work for her. She also remembered the heartache she had to endure during that time, and how reluctant she was to fight him with she knew she had to. She had been kicked around, scarred, and bruised. Not to mention nearly choked to death by electricity. Wasn't a fun day for her by any means. However, she also remembered one other thing: how she was able to release Darien from the mind hold Beryl had him under. Ikuko was acting exactly the same way Darien had been. She suspected something more was going on now, more than ever.

"Yes, mother, he has brainwashed your mind! But how?"

**-xXXXXx-**

Casto's leg muscles, even those he forgot or didn't know he had, were aching. His lungs were nearly empty. His eyes were in tears from the wind constantly blowing right in his face. None of it, though, stopped him from sprinting towards the Tokyo Hills. He had been told what hung in the balance: Serena's livelihood. She would forever be cursed with such regret over something that she would never play a role in Reenie's life? '_What the hell could that be?_' he thought as he entered the outskirts of Juuban, knowing that he was close.

He was trying to recall what roads Darien had driven on last night in order to get there, but the memory he had was vague, and the travel was such a blur to him right now. Nonetheless, he continued on the path as best he could.

He began to see a bunch of smooth, rounded hills in the distance, however. They were straight ahead of him, and the road he was now on—which he thanked the stars was deserted at the moment—led right to them. Those were the Tokyo Hills, alright. The many trees and the small path that led up to the hills were those he remembered the most. Darien had suddenly taken such a hard left from a street that Casto had had all sorts of complaints from whiplash due to it.

He raced as fast as he could to that street, and once he got there, he found that his memory was indeed correct: the skid marks were still on the road. Maybe he should thank Darien now for giving him that whiplash. All he had to do now was follow this street. It was a steep climb (which he wasn't exactly fond of), but one he tried to run despite his depleted energy.

"They're close, Casto," he heard someone through his communicator say. He stopped to look to see Sailor Pluto talking to him through his Vulture device.

"How are you-?"

"The strip you're using allows me to also talk to you directly!"

"So you know that I've ran a friggin' country mile, right?"

Pluto giggled. "Even on the brink of a catastrophe, you never seem to lose your sense of humor. That's the Casto I remember."

"And I wasn't even kidding, either! I feel like I just-!"

Casto was interrupted by the sounds of men and women fighting. He couldn't make out who the voices all belonged to, but he knew who would be fighting at this point: his friends and sister.

"Hurry, Casto," Pluto ordered, "we don't have much time! It's already started!"

Casto kept the com-link opened, though he put the communicator in his pocket and began to run again, ignoring his temptation to just collapse on the pavement. "What has?"

"The events that will lead to Serena making a choice that will affect the rest of her life."

"Why can't you just tell me now what will happen?"

"No, I can't! You must discover this for yourself! It's the only way that Serena will fully remember who you were as a brother to her!"

"She still doesn't remember the emotional connection we had?"

"If you get there with me telling you what happened, the future will be changed, and her memories will never resurface! She must see your shock or else your future will be changed forever!"

"Aw man! Why us? Why does stuff like this always have to happen to us?"

"And don't transform yet! You will know when the time is right!"

"Yeah, I will: when I'm about ready to crack Rubeus' skull!"

**-xXXXXx-**

"Mother," Moon pleaded, "fight it, please! You mustn't let Rubeus' control over you win!"

"Shut up, brat!" Ikuko growled as she attempted to backhand Moon. However, Moon was able to block it and shove Ikuko back quite a few feet. She did have a defense for brainwashing, even though she hadn't used it in months. She reached for her Moon Wand, her crystal giving it power to make it able to do what she had intended.

"Moon Healing! Escalation!"

"Sailor Moon, no!" Luna cried out. "That move taps too much of your magical energy!"

"It'll leave you defenseless if it doesn't work!" Artemis added.

Nonetheless, Moon continued to form the sacred circle, and once it was complete, she sent it out toward Ikuko. It was a direct hit, but nothing happened. Ikuko was not freed of whatever mind control held onto her. Moon continued to fire the crystal's power even more to try to cleanse her. This was risky due to her having to also use the crystal to be able to use Sailor Moon to begin with. The more she used the power to try to cleanse Ikuko, the weaker she felt.

"I told you!" Rubeus laughed. "She isn't under any mind control! She generally hates your guts, Moon!"

"You're lying!" Mask screamed as he pounded his tuxedo cane into Rubeus' gut. As he doubled over, Mask leveled him with a straight uppercut to the jaw.

Moon had no choice but to stop her healing beam. It was indeed a direct replay of when she had been trying to free Darien. Her first attempt there was with the Moon Wand with nothing doing, just as her first attempt here was. And, just like with Darien before, Ikuko answered the attempt with an attack. However, Ikuko forearmed Moon in the gut two times, followed by her grabbing Moon by the hair, pulling back to expose her head, and headbutted her right in the temple three times, making her fall to the ground as Ikuko let go of the hair.

"Now then, my dear ex-daughter," Ikuko laughed while towering over the fallen princess, "I see you have tried everything, but you are never going to convince me to change my mind! You are worthless!"

"Moon Tiara! Magic!" Moon remembered this part, as well. Using the Tiara in order to incapacitate her long enough to try something else. She fired it right at Ikuko's torso, like she had done with Darien. Maybe since this was so much like her fight with Darien when Beryl turned him heel, it would work here, too. It was playing out like that, at least. Though she didn't think Ikuko wouldn't care at all about a musical star. Would her touching it heal her, though? Serena would have to force Ikuko to touch the thing, if she was still able to use it.

Moon would never get the chance, as Ikuko was able to knock the Tiara away and grab it out of the air. Moon didn't even give anyone a chance to react, either, as her mother took the Tiara and, to everyone's surprise, swiped right at Moon's face with it. Moon fell to the ground as a result, blood escaping a large scar on her right cheek.

"There we go, Ikuko!" Rubeus cheered. "Give that bitch the same scar she gave me!"

"With pleasure, my dear Rubeus," Ikuko snarled. "This really has to be insulting to have your own weapon used against you, now is it? Must be heartbreaking...if you had any heart, or any soul, or any conscious! Tell me the truth and I may stab your throat instead of your heart: you really didn't give a shit about me, your father, or Sammy, did you? You screamed the order for me to call the ambulance when you saw him there! You didn't want him to live!"

'_She's lying!_' Moon thought. '_She knows my training! She knew how panicked I was! What game is she really playing here?_'

As Moon was trying to get back to her feet, Ikuko readied the Tiara for her daughter's heart. "So, no answer, huh? Thought as such! If you're just going to be that much of a coward, then I guess it's time for me to finish you off!"

**-xXXXXx-**

What Ikuko had not seen, nor did anyone else see for that matter, was Casto running right to one of the few trees that populated the field. He was where no one else could see him, and he kept himself hidden to see what was going on. He ran up just in time to watch Ikuko slice his sister in the face and then tower over her.

"_Oh, my God_!" Casto gasped. "But...that's her mother that's slicing her apart!"

"Don't go in just yet, Casto!" Pluto commanded. "I need to get the time portal opened. I need a few more minutes. Stay hidden until then."

"You have no idea how hard it is for me to _do_ that right now, Trista!"

"You have to trust me, Casto! You've trusted my advice and my ability to protect you and your loved ones before, haven't you?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Trust me one more time, Casto! Keep yourself hidden! You'll also see what decision I'm talking about! If I can do this right, she'll appear not a second too soon! You'll endanger everything with recklessness, though!"

Casto fought to let Pluto get done what she had to, though any amount of time would be too much time for him to wait. He was seeing Ikuko point Moon's Tiara at her heart, and panicked some more.

"_Trista_!"

"Need a minute more!"

"I don't think we _have_ a minute!"

"_No, Casto_! Don't move! She counters with the decision! Trust me, we have time!"

"_What_ decision?"

**-xXXXXx-**

Ikuko smiled as she eyed the left side of Sailor Moon's chest. Her heart, which was beating a mile a minute, was the target of the Tiara stab. Moon had run out of options that she could use in order to at least buy some time to think, or to wake her up. She had thought long and hard, but the time to do that had passed. She couldn't think of anything at all.

That is, until she felt something digging into her hip. Was it what she thought it was? She forgot she even had it in her possession. She must've slept with it and hadn't even known that she had brought it with her to this dance. However, unlike last night, she had no intentions of ever using it on her own mother. Did it really come to this? And could just having the thing in her hands be enough for Ikuko to think twice and to show everyone what was really controlling her? It was the only other option, and her mother was going to stab her in the heart without thinking twice—with her own Tiara, no less—unless she did something! Now!

"I told you what I do to people who invade and trick my family, you filthy excuse for a damn daughter," Ikuko said sternly. "I make sure they never come _back_!" Ikuko began to come down with the Tiara's pointed center with no doubt that it would reach her daughter's heart. The Sailors, the cats, and Tuxedo Mask were all speechless and powerless to do anything about it.

That was, until Ikuko saw the barrel of a black Baby Eagle nine millimeter pistol staring down at her, which stopped her dead in her tracks. Moon had pulled it out as quickly as she could, her hands shaking with fear. Ikuko threw away the Tiara and stepped back a few feet. Moon fought to get back to her feet as she followed Ikuko, gun pointed at her as she cocked off the safety.

"S-Serena?" Ikuko asked in fear.

"Don't make me have to do this, mother!" Moon pleaded. "I love you so much, I would do anything for you, and if that means I have to put you out of your misery, then I will do it. I don't want to. God, mom, I don't want to."

"That's the treachery that you brought to our lives, is it? You were going to make us live through hell, one way or another, and then just kill us all!"

"No, Serena," Luna cried. "I thought you threw that cursed thing away!"

'_I thought I did, too, Luna,_' Serena thought. '_I don't want to, but I will! C'mon, mother, please, for me, for everyone, wake up! Make this easier on me!_'

Just beyond the field behind the tree, Casto had also seen his sister pull out the piece from her waist and stick it into her mother's face. "No! Serena! For the love of God! Trista, how much longer?"

"Thirty seconds!"

"She's going to shoot her mother in cold blood! We don't have that long!"

"This was the decision I was talking about! She can't get her to wake up, so she shoots her in the head and Ikuko dies! She always feels the regret of that decision and carries that guilt for the rest of her life! She will always blame herself and will never be able to be a part of Reenie's life. Reenie will hate her mother, too!"

Casto's entire body was shaking, tears escaping his eyes. "I'm sorry, Trista! I can't wait here anymore! I won't accept that as her destiny!" He ignored any advice that he heard from Pluto and raced towards the group.

"Yes, you've finally reached your breaking point!" Ikuko continued. "It will be your ultimate downfall! Hardly enough for the girl who pretended to be my daughter!"

"Serena, c'mon!" Mars pleaded, finally getting back to her feet. "Amy was right! You're much better than this!"

"Mom, my friends, I'm sorry! This is the only way!" Sailor Moon closed her eyes and began to squeeze the trigger. Unlike Rubeus, she knew this would kill Ikuko. Her stomach turned as her fingers slowly pulled back on the small curved part of the gun that would fire the damned object. She could feel the cold metal on her finger, through her glove. She was shaking like a leaf, the only sounds being the wind and her squeezing the trigger.

"_SERENA, NO_!" Moon heard a bloodcurdling male scream echo to her left. She opened her eyes, released the trigger without incident (although she was only a millimeter away from shooting the gun), and looked over to see Casto running to her. It was a sight for sore eyes.

"Casto, please, don't stop me! I must do this!"

"I will stop you, Serena, even if I have to take the damn bullet for her!"

"What?" Mars gasped.

"You're saying this is the only way, Serena! But it's the only way for me to fulfill my promise to you! I will never leave your side again, and I swear to you, I will take the bullet for Ikuko!"

"Casto," Pluto whispered just soft enough for only him to hear, "I got it. She's on her way."

Without acknowledging Pluto for obvious reasons, Casto continued, "Ikuko, you should be ashamed of yourself! You've forgotten all the times you and your daughter have had together! Think of who she has always been to you and to your family! There's not been even one single bad bone in her body, and you know that because you've been a part of her life for so long! You're willing to throw all of that away just because you found out she was Sailor Moon? You really think it's her you're angry with? Or is it yourself because you know that you should've known yourself?"

"And who are you?"

"I'm her brother! I'm Casto Sommers! I'm Sailor Vulture! I can't accept this! I really, truly can't accept this notion that you somehow hate my sister now!"

"Yeah, and like brother, like sister, dumb as a damn brick!" Ikuko quickly kicked the gun out of Moon's hands and caught it before anyone could react. "Now, of course I recognize this gun. This is your father's piece, is it, Serena? You stole it from him to kill me! Well, two can play at that game!" She began to squeeze back on the trigger, Moon and Casto unsure what to do. The Sailors were ready to act now, if only they knew they could react fast enough.

"_Stop right there_!"

Ikuko froze as she heard that young voice call out. Everyone else's eyes widened as they could not believe the voice they just heard. Rubeus especially became shocked, as he pivoted faster than anyone else there. He could not have been more surprised than when he saw the person who was standing there.

"I stand for love! I stand for friendship! I am the future! I am Sailor Mini Moon! I will fight evil here and now! And that means you!"

The Sailors could not believe what they were hearing or seeing. The girl stood tall in the center of the field, with her pink hair that was in buns and pigtails, a pink fuku and matching boots, and white gloves. She was a bit taller since they last saw her.

"S-Sailor Mini Moon?" Sailor Moon exclaimed.

"Casto," he heard Pluto whisper to him, "that's Reenie. Her mother told me to transport her to this time in order to train to be a Sailor Soldier. That was to be her original destiny, but not this soon. She was to be a formidable partner, but her destiny has been changed due to Rubeus' interference. Just watch and enjoy the show."

"That damn annoying voice again," Rubeus screamed. "I would recognize that anywhere. And to think I was able to rid myself of Lady Emerald's hyena voice, and now we get you!"

"I remember you, too, Reenie," Ikuko added.

"You should, and I remember you, Ikuko! Though I never thought you would be such a traitor!"

Ikuko's rage shot up to unspeakable proportions the second she heard Mini Moon say those words, a snarling expression forming on her face. "You little...! I am not a traitor. She's betrayed our family!"

"No, you betrayed her! You want a real fight? Bring it on!"

Sailor Moon was speechless. Was this really her future daughter picking a fight with someone, especially someone twice her size and weight? She didn't believe for a second that Mini Moon could take Ikuko on in the state that she was in.

Neither did Casto. "No, Mini Moon, you're gonna-."

"Casto, relax," Pluto whispered. "She's got this! Remember, just watch and enjoy."

"But she's gonna-!"

"Shh! Trust me, she can take her!"

Ikuko turned on the gun's safety, put it away by her waist, and rushed after Mini Moon, ready to punch the girl in the mouth. However, Mini Moon jumped straight up into the air and onto a tree branch, Ikuko missing her completely. Mini Moon swung around the branch and drop kicked her from behind, sending her to her hands and knees. Ikuko quickly returned to her feet and tried again. This time, Mini grabbed her arm and spun her onto her back.

Moon was in shock. "How in the hell could she do that to a woman twice her size?"

"Good question," Casto answered.

"Her mother encouraged her to take some special fighting classes," Pluto whispered. "She's educated a bit in jujitsu now as a result of Rubeus changing her destiny."

"Whatever it is, Mini's definitely laying the smack down on her now!"

"Told you to enjoy the show."

Ikuko kipped back to her feet and turned around to face Mini Moon, just what Mini was hoping for.

"You're just the same as these freaks!" Ikuko yelled. "Allow me to put you out of your misery before you become like my ex-daughter!" She pulled the gun back out and turned off the safety.

Whether or not she could kill Mini with a gun would never be answered, as Mini had a counter anyway as she revealed a white-handled wand with a white circle on it and a pink crystal in the center of the crystal. "Pink Sugar Heart! Attack!" A small five note tune looped over and over, and small hearts rapidly fired out of the crystal and onto Ikuko's forehead. It was nothing more than an annoying mosquito bite to Ikuko, but it was several mosquito biting one after another as Ikuko dropped the gun. Mars, knowing this was her best chance to take the gun out of the equation for good, rolled to the gun, grabbed it, and dismantled it piece by piece until all the parts were scattered across the field. She knew that manga she had read about a corrupt army a few years ago would've proved useful someday.

"Casto," Pluto whispered, "Mini's attack wasn't supposed to work for her the first time, either. Quite a lucky break that you saved her destiny, isn't it?"

Casto didn't get a chance to answer, as something else caught his attention: Mini Moon's attack was revealing something on Ikuko. A small golden orb that was radiating a black aura was floating above Ikuko's forehead. With every hit Mini was delivering with her attack, the orb flickered in and out of visibility from the entire group.

"What was that?" Jupiter yelled out.

"You have to be kidding me!" Venus also cried.

"Was that not supposed to be seen, either?" Casto demanded.

Moon, however, heard Casto. "Who are you talking to, bro?"

"I'll tell you later, sis!"

Mercury was busy using her Merceye Computer to scan the new object, and the results made her eyes widen. "Guys, it's the orb! That's what's controlling her! It can be hit even while it's cloaked!"

"How did it stay hidden all this time?" Jupiter asked.

"I don't know! I guess we'll never know!"

"Told you Reenie had a way to expose hidden evil," Pluto whispered. "Concentrated firing was the only way to expose it, and Reenie's attack was the only attack that used concentrated fire."

"This proves another thing, though," Venus growled.

"Yeah," Tuxedo Mask agreed, "that Rubeus was lying all along!"

Rubeus growled. "She still hates you, Serena!"

Sailor Moon could only stare coldly at Rubeus. "When I'm done with her, I'm coming after you, you disgusting son of a bitch! This is a new low!"

"Guys," Mercury continued, "the orb is breakable now! If we can shatter it somehow, Ikuko will return to normal!"

"Sis," Vulture suggested, "you and the girls go after Ikuko and that orb! I'll help Tuxedo Mask hold off Rubeus for you!"

"Thank you, bro!" Moon answered. She then looked to Casto, smiling. "And Cas, thank you, so much! I would've made the biggest mistake of my life if you didn't show up! I love you!" The siblings clasped left hands before pulling each other in a tight embrace.

A few seconds after, Casto turned to Mask and Rubeus, flanking his friend Darien. "I think there's one more thing missing from this picture, man! Vulture Medal Power! Suit up!" One hand clasped the Vulture Medal at first, and then both as he flipped it a few times to fit it onto his belt. The vulture shadows made up his gray and purple gloves and boots, his dark gray shirt, and very dark gray pants. The vulture wings that sprouted before disappearing completed his transformation into Sailor Vulture.

"What's this?" Rubeus gasped. "The two males, standing tall, co-existing together?"

"Blood will always be thicker than water!" Mask answered. "We're all a family, and we all stick together no matter what the troubles are! You've tried to break that bond apart, and for that, you must be punished! I am Tuxedo Mask, and I will protect my family!"

"And I am the personification of unity! I stand for truth and strength in all peoples across all worlds! I will right the wrongs you have caused and triumph over the evil that you have caused! I am Sailor Vulture!"

"Tuxxy Boy and the male Sailor this time," Rubeus smirked. "This will be easy!"

He fired a few beams at the two men. They both jumped in different directions. Mask pulled out a red rose and fired it at Rubeus. As Rubeus moved out of the way of the rose, it gave Vulture a chance to forearm him in the small of the back. Rubeus only staggered slightly, turning around and swinging at Vulture, who was ducking and jumping to avoid his many swings. Vulture finally countered by kneeing Rubeus in the gut. He clenched his stomach as he staggered back. However, he ran back first into an awaiting Mask. Rubeus turned around cautiously to see Mask smiling at him before planting his fist into Rubeus' mouth, knocking him back a few steps.

"Want to go any further, Rubeus?" Mask asked.

Rubeus looked back to see Vulture glaring at him, standing dead still with his arms at his sides. He remembered that look all too well. He was not about to let him strike again. He fired a barrage of lightning at Vulture, hoping it would hit him. Vulture jumped completely over it, however, and kicked him in the teeth on the way down. Rubeus once more collided with Mask, who struck him on the back of the neck with his cane, making him fall to the ground flat on his face. Rubeus rolled over to see Vulture and Mask standing side by side. Rubeus quickly jumped back to his feet, holding his mouth in pain for a moment before lunging after the two again. Vulture once more jumped straight up, while Mask jumped to the right side, getting a rose ready. However, this time when he threw it, it struck dead into Rubeus' right chest, making him step back.

"Vulture, Attack!"

Rubeus heard the call from behind him, and he looked back to see a huge shadow vulture shrieking at him. He knew he couldn't do anything about it, and it hit him dead in the back. It made him fly face first into a tree before falling to his back.

"This is useless!" Rubeus growled. "This will never be over! _Never_!"

"You're right," Mask answered. "It won't be over! It's you who made your bed over this crystal!"

"I will still get it! I don't need you or anyone else to find it!"

"If the Dark Kingdom couldn't find it with more people, what makes you think you can by your lonesome?"

"Don't worry, Tuxxy Boy! I'm much smarter than you give me credit for! Go ahead, try to get your precious Ikuko back! They'll kill her before they are able to break that damn orb! Like I said, this will never be over!" Rubeus disappeared before Vulture was able to fire another attack at him.

"I think it's already over, dumb ass!" Vulture growled.

"C'mon, Casto," Mask yelled. "Your sister needs you."

"No, man," Vulture disagreed. "She needs _us_. Me _and_ you."

**-xXXXXx-**

"Mom," Sailor Moon cried, "you got to fight it! Do it for me! Do it for all of us!"

"Fight what?" Ikuko smirked as she approached her daughter in the center of the flat. Moon was not alone anymore, though, as Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the surprising Mini Moon all stood behind her as support.

"Rubeus has you under his control!" Mercury answered. "That's why you hate your daughter! It's making you hate her because it's taking advantage of your anger and directing it the wrong way! You must fight it!"

"No way! I like this, I have always wanted to be the tough mother! Now I can be sure that I can protect Sammy from the dangers of the world now!"

'_Was that how Rubeus was able to get control of her?_' Moon thought. '_Her guilt for not acting on saving Sammy?_'

"I won't let anything else harm him! Not even my wretched ex-daughter!"

Ikuko lunged after Sailor Moon, ready to punch her in the mouth once more.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Ikuko saw only a forceful wave of water come right at her, and it knocked her flat on her back upon impact.

"Mars Celestial Fire! Surround!" Mars had succeeded in getting her rings of fire to surround Ikuko so she could not move, which was what they needed to do in order to break the now visible orb that continued to float over her head.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

"Venus Crescent Beam! Smash!"

Jupiter and Venus both remembered the fights in the pyramid, and thought that the combined attacks could work here, as well. The lightning-wired beam was targeted right at the orb. The orb, however, moved just as the beam was about to hit, making it miss completely.

"What?" Jupiter gasped.

"It just moved on its own," Venus added. "This can't be. Mercury said it was breakable."

"I did, but I didn't know it had a mind of its own. Let me scan it again." Mercury took out her Mercomp and scanned the orb with it. The results were staggering. "The orb is a supercomputer, actually. It has a cloaking device, which would explain how it was able to stay hidden. It's able to communicate with its target in order to make them perform whatever the computer is relaying to the subject. In other words, it was programmed to do what I said it was doing. It..." Mercury gasped.

"What is it?" Moon asked.

"It was from the escape pod. The data from the pod I collected before I became trapped is showing me everything about it. It must've been what kept anyone from knowing that Rubeus survived the UFO explosion."

"Then how the hell did it survive the self-destruct sequence?"

"It can't be weakened by a straight bullet like the pod explosion was. It has to be concentrated, like Mini Moon's attack was. Once it's weakened enough, then a straight shot can finish it off."

While the girls were discussing their options, Ikuko was recovering from the blows that she had suffered. She was searching for a way to escape the fire ring, looking around for any place where the flames were low enough for her to jump out. Finally, she saw the area: to her left. She took a grand leap of faith and was able to get out of danger. She rose to her feet after a quick roll following the jump, and dusted off her yellow dress.

"Can you just hack it and tell it to shut down?" Jupiter asked.

"No," Mercury answered. "The data on it is too encrypted. It would take days for me to even translate the encryption remotely, let alone hack it."

"We don't have that much time!"

"No, we don't!" Mini Moon interrupted. "She's trying to attack again!" She charged as Ikuko was dusting off her dress, jumping as she kicked Ikuko in her chest cavity. As Ikuko staggered, Mini Moon slid down, locked Ikuko's ankle with her legs, and dropped her face first to the ground, holding her there in the same manner.

"Let go of me!" Ikuko screamed.

"Wow!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "Never knew she could do something like that!"

"Concentrated fire power, correct?" Mini Moon asked. "Got just the thing! Pink Sugar Heart...!"

That's all that she could get out, as Ikuko rolled over on her back and kicked Mini Moon hard in the chest with her free foot. The kick was so hard that it made Mini Moon fly in the air for a few seconds before colliding with the ground, her Heart Rod slid out of her hands a few feet away from her.

"Reenie, no!" Moon cried.

Ikuko got to her feet and began to approach Mini Moon, who was struggling to return to her own feet. "I think I remember you now. You were someone else who was trying to invade my family, but you were different when you tried. Trying something else now, I take it."

"We gotta do something," Artemis yelled.

"Concentrated fire," Moon mumbled. Her eyes then widened. "Wait a minute, the other magazine!"

"What?"

"I picked up two magazine clips for that gun when I got it. I should still have that other one, and it should be loaded."

"Of course," Amy answered. "It can still do some damage even out of the gun. Would be like several flash bombs going off all at once."

"Would be one hell of a fireworks display," Jupiter added.

"Wouldn't hurt Ikuko, but the orb might be weakened by it. The power its generating may just be enough to set off the magazine and all the rounds that are in it."

Ikuko continued to stalk Mini Moon, who was now on one knee. She was ready to return to her vertical base when Ikuko grabbed her by the neck, lifted her in the air and began to choke her. Mini Moon gripped Ikuko's arm tightly trying to break free.

"Reenie!' Moon screamed. "Mom, no!" She began to rush towards her mother, but it proved to be futile as Ikuko dropped Mini quickly, turned around, and punched Moon in the face, making Moon drop to the ground. Ikuko said nothing, only towering over her daughter.

"Mom, please, it's me! Serena! Your daughter!" There was no getting through, though, to Ikuko, as she was about to kick Moon in the ribs again.

"Vulture Attack!"

The vulture this time carried a single red rose right near Ikuko's feet as she jumped back. She looked up and around her, and finally caught who had done that: Sailor Vulture and Tuxedo Mask, who were high upon a branch of a tree.

"More than one way to skin a cat," Vulture grinned, though he quickly frowned and looked at Luna and Artemis. "Sorry guys!"

"Ikuko," Mask yelled, "you must fight the evil that has consumed you! Your family depends on it!"

"She has deceived my family!" Ikuko countered. "She lied to me, and to my entire family! She isn't my daughter!"

"Yes she is, Ikuko," Vulture responded. "If it wasn't for her, Sammy would be dead right now! If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be standing there saying how much you hate her!"

"You say that you wanted to make up for what you thought was neglect towards Sammy," Mask continued. "You really think you're making him proud by hurting you daughter and shunning her from your life?"

"Shut up! All of you just _shut the hell up_!" Ikuko shed a small tear.

Moon had seen the tear and reached for the magazine. She hoped Amy was right about what the effects would be. "Mother, you don't hate me! Rubeus tricked you into thinking that you did! He took advantage of your guilt and your sadness and turned it into anger on me! He wanted you to blame me for your sins!"

"No, I always knew you were bad news!"

'_C'mon, mom, keep talking! Come a bit closer!_'

"Serena," Venus cried, "what are you doing?"

"Proving she's one of the smartest people I've ever known," Mars answered, seeing what Moon was reaching for.

"You, Serena, were always a disgrace!" Ikuko continued, inching closer and closer towards an ever-awaiting Moon. "I always thought you would be someone that I could be proud of! But look at you now! A complete shell of your former-!"

Got it! She was right there, and without any hesitation, Moon threw the clip with all of the strength she could possibly muster. The clip indeed went off like fireworks, with several flashes going off with loud bangs. It was enough for Ikuko to scream out and collapse to her knees, holding her head in sheer pain. The orb was fluttering chaotically, as if it had no more control over its actions.

"Yes!" Jupiter cheered.

"Sailor Moon, it's weak now!" Mercury called out.

"Destroy the damned thing, now!" Luna ordered.

"Darien," Vulture said, "go and help Reenie!"

"What about you?"

"I think it's time for my sister to show that she completely remembers who I am." Vulture jumped down to meet his sister, helping her back up to her feet while Mask did what Vulture asked him to do. Vulture had a present for Moon as she got back up: her Moon Tiara. She nodded as she retrieved it from his hands.

"If I'm right, the orb won't go down to an individual attack," Vulture told Moon. "There's one thing that I know will shatter it for good."

Moon nodded. "Can we still..."

"Only if you know what I mean!"

"Huh?" Venus asked. "What _does_ he mean?"

"He's about to surprise us again," Artemis said.

Moon and Vulture jumped back in sync with each other, coming back to back with one another. Completely synchronized now, Moon kept her Tiara in her hands as Vulture closed his eyes. A aura of gold and gray encircled them, joining to form complete silver around the duo. Moon outstretched her hand with the Tiara towards the orb, with Vulture stretching his arm to grab the Tiara, as well.

Together, they yelled, "VULTURE! TIARA!" The tiara ignited in a shadowy fire, in the shape of the same shadow vulture that Casto was using. They finished the attack by yelling "STRIKE!" At that precise moment, the Tiara streaked across the flat towards the orb, a feint scream of a vulture sounding as it did so. It only took two seconds for the Tiara to strike its target, and it was a direct hit in the center of the orb. The orb in response fell backwards, off of Ikuko's head. Only a few seconds later, it began to crack like an egg and shattered, its pieces disappearing without a trace. The two siblings kept their hands outright while the attack did what it was sent out to do, and only separated once the orb was completely broken.

"Mother!" Moon cried out as she rushed to tend to Ikuko, now collapsed on her knee.

"S-Serena?" Ikuko asked, looking around to see all of the Sailors rushing to her aid, her daughter getting to her knees and wrapping her arms around her.

"Mom, you alright?"

"I—I think so. How did I get here, though? I remember being tied up in this basement that Rubeus was living in, and the next thing I know, I'm here!"

"Don't worry, mom. It's over now." Moon hugged her mother tightly, Ikuko smiling as she returned the embrace.

"Rubeus had you in some sort of mind control," Luna said. "You must not have remembered any of it."

"Oh my, talking cats?" Ikuko asked.

"Goes with the job," Moon smiled.

"I see. Never a dull moment with you, is there?"

"Mom, you don't know the half of it."

"I would love to hear about it."

"Important thing is that it's over now, Ikuko," Vulture interrupted. "You're fine now, and we're not going to let anything else happen to you again."

"Wrong, Vulture Amateur!" they suddenly heard Rubeus' voice bellow out. While the other Sailors suddenly looked around—with Vulture and Mask now keeping a close eye on Ikuko to make sure Rubeus didn't try to kidnap her again—Moon grabbed her Tiara off her head and searched for the villain.

"Rubeus, I'll never forgive you for what you've done to me!" Moon yelled.

"You know it'll never be over, Sailor Moon! Not until your blood is on my hands! Go ahead and celebrate this win! You deserve it, because it'll be your last! I will find the Hizrounswa myself, and when I do, you will all be sorry that you ever crossed me! You haven't seen the last of me, Sailor Moon!"

Moon continued to look around for Rubeus, but he was nowhere to be found. She didn't hear the voice after that, either. "Don't worry, Rubeus! I'm counting on it!"

**-xXXXXx-**

During the trip back to the hospital, Casto told his friends all about what he had been told by Sailor Pluto about the changing of destiny, his beliefs about destiny never being set in stone, and about Reenie's new role in the Sailors' lives. Ikuko was also told about her actions on the flat, something that she was very remorseful for once they returned via Darien's car (one of the biggest carpools he ever had to make in his life; he didn't know so many people could fit in his car).

However, Ikuko had no chance to start apologizing for her deeds, as standing in the waiting room of the hospital's emergency room was none other than her husband, Kenji. He was smiling as he saw his wife come in through the doors, jumping to his feet to meet her as she entered with the other girls, Darien, and Casto.

"Hon, you're alright!" he celebrated as he ran to embrace Ikuko, grimacing a bit as he lifted her off her feet for a moment in the joy of seeing her once more.

"Put me down, sweetie," Ikuko responded as she saw him wince. "You want to go back into the E.R.?"

Kenji could not get the smile off his face as he let Ikuko touch the ground. "Sorry. It's just that I couldn't wait to see you again. I thought that man was gonna..."

"He thought he could, but I had some help in telling him that no one should mess with our family."

Ikuko pointed Kenji to their daughter, who smiled along with her mother at the scene. Kenji's reaction was like seeing a ghost.

"S-Serena," he cried. "Y—You're alright!"

Serena couldn't stop smiling, either, as Kenji ran over to hug her. Serena could've easily been suffocated by how tightly he was doing so, though she could care less as she returned the embrace. "It's over now, dad. We can rest easy."

"How do you know it is, Serena?" Kenji asked, looking into her eyes. "That madman could be back. He was saying that he was looking for you."

"Ken," Ikuko interrupted. "You will never believe me if I told you the things I've seen and heard. But trust me, it's over for now. Serena made sure it was."

"This is a story I want to hear."

"Can I join in this little celebration you have going on here?" they heard a baritone voice beckon. Doctor Mesta was seen smiling along with everyone else.

"Doctor, you seem happy," Serena pointed out.

"Well, it's good news for once," he answered. "You deserve it. Oh, and speaking of good news, got something else to tell you about. I think you already know that Sammy is going to make a full recovery. He's going to be released from the hospital in a day or so. Just going to make sure there are no more major problems and then let him go. He'll probably need to be in crutches or a wheelchair for a week or so, but judging by what he has gone though, I would say that is going to be a cake walk for him."

"I bet he can't wait," Reenie answered. "He always hated being cooped up inside."

"Well, he was complaining about that, so I guess that means he's alright. By the way, I think he told me to tell you that he wanted to talk to all of you for a moment when you came back from wherever you went to. He's upstairs waiting for you."

"Thanks, doc," Serena nodded. "For everything."

"No problem. It's our job, though you should be proud of yourself, too. You're a hero."

Serena shook her head. "I'm no hero, doc."

"Yes, you are. Sometimes, it's the ones that never realize they're the heroes they really are. Heroes are those that never give up, and risk their own well being to save someone else. You really are a hero, as well as your friends here. You should always remember that. I think your family is very proud that you're their daughter. I'll let you go and see him now. I'll go and get Kenji's release papers ready. Hate the paperwork of all of this. I'll see you around. Call if you need anything." Mesta then went back into his office and shut the door behind him.

"Kenji, can you take her friends up to see Sammy?" Ikuko asked "I need to talk to Serena for a moment."

"Yeah, of course." Kenji motioned for the others to follow him to Sammy's room, Serena staying behind as Ikuko approached her.

"Serena, what I said back on that hill, about me wanting to disown you..."

"No, mom, you don't have to apologize to me for any of it."

"Yes, I do. I never want you to think for a moment that I would ever do that."

"No, I know you wouldn't. It scared me, yes, but I knew it wasn't you talking."

Ikuko put her hands onto Serena's shoulders. "Sweetie, I...I truly do love you, with all my heart. I never want you to ever forget that. You're always welcome at home, no matter what anyone else tries to make you think."

"What about my secret that I kept from you, mom?"

"Serena, you were always something else. Like I said, there's never been a dull moment with you, and this just proved that to me. But I never want it to be dull, I never want it to be boring. Now I know that it won't ever be."

"So you don't hate me for being Sailor Moon?"

"Serena, listen to me." Ikuko stared right into her daughter's eyes. "I love you, I love you being Sailor Moon, I love everything about you. Even the things that have made me mad over the years. You know I'd never turn my back to you. I could never hate you at all. You being someone who I never thought for a moment you would ever be just tells me how much of a gift it is to me to have you for a daughter."

"Thanks, mom."

Ikuko wrapped her arms around Serena tightly, Serena quickly returning the gesture.

The two didn't break it off at all until half a minute later, when Casto interrupted them. "Hey, sis. Sammy wanted to talk to you for a moment." He then realized what he was interrupting. "Oh, Ikuko, my apologies."

"No, don't fret, Casto," Ikuko answered. "We were just about to go up to see him anyway."

Casto nodded with a smile. "By the way, Serena, I think your father knows you're Sailor Moon now."

"Did Sammy tell him?" Serena asked, eyes widened slightly.

"Actually, someone else did. You'll never believe it. Let's just say that what told him that is also part of the reason Reenie is here right now."

**-xXXXXx-**

Ikuko led Serena and Casto up to see Sammy, and they all saw what Casto was referring to sitting at the foot of Sammy's hospital bed talking to the group.

"L-Luna P?" Serena gasped.

"You got some friends, Serena," Kenji answered.

"Yes, Serena," they heard Sailor Pluto say. "I told them everything. Your father surprised me. I didn't expect him to pop in like that."

"No, it's alright, Sailor Pluto," Serena claimed. "I was going to tell him anyway. I was getting tired of having to hide it from them."

"Well, it's alright, Serena. Them knowing will help you in the future. They are more prepared now to face the new challenges that await you now that your destinies have changed."

"We shouldn't be messing with destiny, though," Luna objected. "I've always been taught that destiny shouldn't be changed for anyone. That it's a purpose in life for someone."

"Actually, I think Casto has taught me something about destiny," Pluto responded.

"Should listen to her," Sammy added.

"Destiny is a purpose in life, but what that purpose is should be left up to the people that will make it happen, which is all of you. No one can tell you what your destiny will be. You have to be in control of the destinies that you carve for yourselves. The future, as I have learned, has not been written yet for any of you. Reenie is here to train to be a Sailor Soldier, but she didn't know how to use martial arts like she does until Rubeus changed destiny. That told me that not everything is etched in stone until it actually happens. She's a lot tougher now and can handle more than I first saw her be able to."

"Can we change destiny back, though?" Artemis asked.

"Changing something back is harder. Do you really think that Serena would want to lose her brother again? Do you want these new experiences, or the burdens being lifted, or this new unity to be extinguished? Changing things back would stop Rubeus from surviving the explosion, but it would also erase any of you bonding closer than you ever have before. Trust me, Rubeus actually helped you become stronger and more ready to face what will come next."

"No," Darien answered. "I don't want this to change for anything. This made me realize how lucky I am to have Serena in my life."

"Me either," Amy added. "It drew me closer to the people I know will be there when I need them."

"And I never want to be separated from my sister again," Casto said.

"Casto, I'm sorry I led you on like I did, too," Pluto continued. "Maybe sometime in the future, I'll make it up to you."

"You don't have to, Trista. The way you trusted me today is enough."

"Thank you, though I think you deserve more than that. Yes, I will refuse to change this at all. You deserved to find each other again. That was to be your destiny anyway, though I cannot tell you anymore than that. It's something you will have to write for yourself."

"Pluto," Reenie called out. "What are you gonna do?"

"I must be going. The Door of Time still needs my guidance."

Unlike when the Sailors first saw Reenie, she was more understanding about Pluto needing to exit. "I'll miss you, though."

"I'll miss you, too, Reenie. Remember, you serve a purpose, as well. I'll be awaiting your return. You remember how to contact me if you need anything."

"Yes, I do. I think I'll be staying here for a while, though. You don't have to worry about me. I love you, Sailor Pluto."

Pluto only smiled, a tear escaping as she outstretched her hand towards whatever monitor she was using. Reenie put a hand to meet hers as the Luna P ball slowly vanished. Reenie could only sigh heavily, not being able to stop a small tear of her own from escaping her eye.

"Don't worry, Reenie," Ikuko said. "You're always welcome to stay with us like you did before."

"Thank you," Reenie answered.

"And Casto?"

Casto eyes widened to look at Ikuko. "What's up?"

"If you need somewhere to stay, I think we can accommodate you. That is, if you don't mind."

"Thank you. That's very nice of you."

"Least I could do for you after everything you've done for my daughter. But how long will that foreign exchange thing keep you here."

"I'm not going back anytime soon."

Ikuko nodded and smiled. While the others began to talk to Sammy (with Serena ecstatic to see him again), Ikuko walked up to Mina, who was looking on. "Mina, I'm sorry if I upset you with what I called you."

"It's no problem. Not too many people remembered that, it was such a long time ago."

"Yeah, Mina," Lita interrupted, turning to look at Mina, hearing the conversation. "That guy that bailed on you at that wedding. What exactly happened to him?"

"Simple really. It was one of the memories that I got back from Casto." Mina's smiled widened. "He was at my wedding, and when I saw my groom an hour after he bailed, he was bloodied up, and I know who did it."

"Wha...?"

"Told you he was a wild one. But he did care, deeply."

Lita only smiled and returned to see Sammy, with Mina turning to Ikuko. "C'mon, ma'am. I think Sammy would want to see you most of all."

"Agreed, Mina."

**-xXXXXx-**

"God _damn_ it!" Rubeus yelled as he punched the pipe that once held Ikuko. "This cannot be! No crystal, no Sailors dead, no Ikuko dead. Was starting to like her, too! Oh well, at least the crystal's not all gone. But I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board if I'm to find this damn thing."

He walked over to the table in the center of the cabin basement and stared right at the copy of the two pages of the crystal book. "Where are you, Hizrounswa? You weren't in the temple, and Casto doesn't have it. He couldn't have it; he isn't that powerful to be able to be wielding it. Who the hell else would have it, then? Who else would be evil enough—ah ha ha!" His eyes widened as he now sported a huge grin. "Ah, Tuxxy Boy, you forgot that old saying, loose lips sinks ships, did you? It could've been right under my nose all this time."

**-xXXXXx-**

Rubeus had traveled about twenty miles from where his cabin was located: the North Pole, opposite of where his escape pod had landed. That cabin was a lucky find if he ever knew of one. It was out in the middle of nowhere, and it seemed as though it was made just for him to reside. However, what he didn't realize that there was something else that was here. Make that, some _one_ else who once resided here.

"Just a few more miles before I get to it," he told himself. "It should be here. I was always told it was here. The Dark Phantom did something right, I hope."

It took him a few more minutes in the freezing cold that he was trying his hardest to ignore (his magical immunity, like Mercury's, could only shield him so much), but he finally reached what he was looking for: a giant crater. It was one that he knew wasn't normal in a place like this, and thus, he could sense that his search was drawing to a successful close.

"There it is, just where he said it would be. You were the only other one that knew of it, were you? You must've thought it would've been enough to kill the Sailors, too, right?"

He looked into the crater, and what he saw made his eyes widen. It was a dark purple floor down about fifty feet from the surface. It looked rather smooth to him, and as he stood and jumped down (thanking his floating ability in the process), his suspicions were confirmed even more. He saw a staircase that led into the mouth of a giant black face. It was a freaky sight for him, but he knew exactly what it led to, especially with the giant red and blue eyes that instead of scaring him away, were actually bringing him to traverse the path.

"Just a little bit more. Surprised that it's still standing after what she did to this place. I thought Sailor Moon would've destroyed this structure along with everything else a few years ago." Rubeus stopped midway up the steps and put a hand to his chin. "Though she thought that she got rid of me, too." He then looked back towards the entrance. "Well now, did you actually find it or not? It wouldn't surprise me if you were the one who was able to sneak past the gods. You were one for always having a way for everything, weren't you?"

He continued to trek up the steps, taking quite a few minutes to finally reach the top. He saw the same purple floor that he had seen at the bottom. Smirking at his find, Rubeus walked forward some more, seeing the dark purple stalactites on the ceiling, with the jagged edges to the rock walls of the same color grabbing his attention further.

"Where would you keep it, though? I don't think you would've just had it out in the open."

Rubeus went left of where he was, though he didn't really know where in this place he really was at right now. There was a small staircase that led down. He didn't question how he had missed it; it was so small that he determined that anyone who wasn't really looking for this stairwell wouldn't have caught it. It was extremely narrow, to the point where only one person could go down at a time, or at least a single file line. Rubeus began his traverse down the staircase, hoping that this would end up where he thought it would.

He reached the end of the stairs just a minute later, finding that they lost their smoothness halfway down, giving way to the same jagged edges as the walls. When he reached the bottom and looked at his new surroundings, he wasn't that impressed. It was a large room, but wasn't much to write home about. There was a large wall right in front of him, about two hundred yards out from his position. He balled a fist and narrowed his eyes.

"What the hell? You were the only other one that could've-?"

His words were stopped by what his eyes laid upon: a small panel that was not like the rest of the wall was opposite the stairs. It was dusty and the surface of it was a bit worn, but those were the only imperfections on the beige panel. As Rubeus slowly walked towards it, he found that it wasn't as small as he first thought. It was actually a few feet tall and about five feet wide. It also seemed to be removable, which was what really got Rubeus' attention.

"So, it wasn't that obvious! You thought of everything, didn't you?"

Rubeus put his hands onto the edges of the panel, which was high enough so that he could easily reach it without bending down or tiptoeing to it.

"All right, Hizrounswa. Come to daddy. Finally, all my wishes will be fulfilled. With this crystal, my revenge will soon be completed. You will be sorry that you ever crossed me, Sailor Moon!"

Rubeus found it a bit difficult to remove the panel, but with a bit of strength, he was able to get it off of there. What he saw was a hollow hole, with nothing but a black void found within.

"Damn it! Either you were really good at hiding it or you don't have it! I'm tired of-!"

He was interrupted yet again (he really hated being interrupted). However, this time, nothing could prepare him for what he was about to see. Heavy swirls of pure purple energy with purple lightning bolts began escaping the dark void in the wall. They came out quickly, and Rubeus could feel the evil that the energy had radiated.

"My God! What is this? The Hizrounswa couldn't have possibly made this much-!"

"Who woke me?" Rubeus heard a shrieking female voice beckon. That voice was familiar to Rubeus. All _too_ familiar.

"No, this couldn't be. It wasn't the Hizrounswa that I found! It was what kept..."

"So, you were the ones that let us free from Hell!"

"Are you who I think you are?" Rubeus called out. "I heard all about you! Saw all the videos about who you were! Is it really you?"

He saw several energy swirls come together in the center of the room (some were escaping the room altogether). They swirled upwards rapidly, covering up what appeared to be a female figure. Rubeus had a hard time trying to take in the sights of purple and black circling around him and this small area of the room. However, it was when the swirls were done and had left the center that his suspicions were confirmed.

Standing in front of her was indeed a female. She was just as tall as Rubeus was, having on a purple dress that while not dragging behind her was covering her feet. Her fiery red hair was quite long and thick, and Rubeus knew that he was staring in the yellow eyes of the one person that he thought could have the Hizrounswa.

He had not found the crystal in the hole, but rather the resurrection of whom he referred to as the legend herself, as well as the kingdom that once occupied the building he was standing in now.

He had revived the Dark Kingdom.

He had revived Queen Beryl.

* * *

There's the end of Blinded By Revenge.

However, this is only the beginning, as War Games picks up where this one leaves off. Believe me, this is only the beginning. With this chapter, though, Blinded By Revenge is complete. Thanks to everyone who read this, and a huge thanks to youroctober for the beta reading of this story.

I only hope you join me as we play some War Games next. We're not even CLOSE to Deadworld yet.

Good night, and good luck.


End file.
